Nightfall
by StaffSergeant
Summary: [AU Vol.4] Winter arrives in Vale. The Grimm rule the City, the White Fang continue their war against humanity. In the background, a sinister power stirs. The Guardians of Earth stand united with the people of Vale. It is a dark time but for the Guardians it's just another fight against the Darkness.
1. Chapter 1

Nightfall

1

Investigations/Into the Vale Dead Zone/Rescuing the Goodwitch

 **Destiny=Bungie**

 **RWBY=Rooster Teeth**

 **AU is a go.**

 **/**

 _"The White Fang think they are hardened killers. It's amusing really how men think death is a dignified thing. It is not."-Memoirs of Hunter Keina Duvall._

 _Undisclosed Location in Mistral_

She had been around for so many long years.

Salem, or Shalem as she once remembered been called, smiled as she looked over her domain in Mistral. The sounds of snarling Grimm gave her peace, even as she imagined tearing old Ozpin apart.

Salem let her ruby eyes fall on two of her brood, Beowolves as the humans called them, wrestle and growl for domination. She smiled again. The strong overcame the weak. It was as simple as that.

"Cinder." Her voice rang with authority and even the Grimm wrestling below the cliff she stood on heeded her call and ceased. Salem had given them life. She could just as easily give them death.

"Yes, Mistress?" Cinder emerged from the shadows, eyes glowing in malevolence.

"How goes our work in the other three remaining Kingdoms?" Salem asked.

"It goes well, even with the situation in Vale being what it is..." Cinder replied.

Salem turned to regard Cinder. A pale, ethereal face framed by strange locks of grey hair made her all the more inhuman. Her eyes were a cold, ruby red that promised only pain.

"Ah, the...Guardians I have been hearing from our mutual friend Adam Taurus." Salem smiled. "Much like Ozpin, they are only a small irritant. They are not worthy of much attention."

"But..." Cinder felt Salem's hands on her shoulders.

"Hush, my dear." Salem kissed Cinder's forehead. "You are my greatest pupil, my blade against the Light that dares show its face on this planet. Do not falter in your duties." She smiled. "Go now, my pupil. Go meet with our mutual friends, for I have much to do."

When Cinder departed Salem went back to watching her domain. The Light would not win here...

She would make sure of it.

/

 _Patch Docks, Island of Patch, First month of Winter_

It was snowing.

Ruby Rose wondered if Weiss was doing okay ever since she went back to Atlas. Ruby fixed her hood as she trotted down the street to head to the bar near the docks where the sailors hung out. Usually.

She had never been here except for that one time that she freaked out Dad by wandering away from him. She had never seen Dad so angry, but Mom calmed him down even as she tried to hold in her laughter. Times were happier back then.

Now the bar was closed. She didn't remember its name.

"Hey, Ruby?" She heard Sparky speak. Ruby looked around curiously.

A sigh and a flash of light. "Ruby. Right here." Sparky looked at her with his photoreceptor.

"Oh!" Ruby shook her head. "Is everyone here?"

"Yes, even Yang." Sparky replied. "Go to the back of the bar. We'll talk more then. Come on, people are staring."

Ruby nodded and followed the Ghost as he floated down the alley. Ruby sighed as she saw an unscrupulous character leaning against the wall. In her way, of course.

"Hey, look what we got here!" He pushed off the wall to leer at Ruby who stood there looking at them. "Say, little girl...Aren't ya supposed to be in school or something?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Do you read the news mister? Beacon got closed down."

"Hah, so what?" The man grinned. "I'm gettin' sidetracked here...give me your-"

 _Click._

The man turned around, paling as Warlock Ivan Searle aimed a rifle at him.

"Leave or die." The Warlock told the thug. "Your choice."

"Hey man, I-I uh I was just joking." The thug laughed nervously.

"You're still running your mouth?" Ivan chambered a round into his Hung Jury. "Leave."

The thug scurried away. Ruby pouted at the faceplate of Ivan's Spektar Hood. "You didn't have to point a gun at him."

Ivan merely snorted. "Should I have let him do something bad?"

"Jerk." Ruby mumbled as Ivan let her inside the closed bar, which John had selected as their meeting place. It was also their billet with Fireteam Emeici as dictated by Commander Edgar Gein.

Ruby looked around, the area was pretty clean. There was a flag hanging off the bar where Hestia was busy cleaning a disassembled weapon. The symbol was a shield that showed off each Guardian class in service to the Last City. She saw Xia Zhang sharpening her knives, the Hunter gave her a smile which Ruby returned with an eager wave. Ivan had stalked off towards the back where a Scroll was playing music she didn't recognize.

"Ruby!"

Yang surprised her younger sister by hugging her around the neck with her right arm. Her left was a functional prosthetic given to her by the best surgeons aboard the _Nautilus,_ the ship that brought Task Force Endeavor to Remnant. Since the grafting, she had recovered somewhat even if she was still a bit shaken up by Blake being kidnapped.

John had told Ruby that when the Commander briefed them on the situation she had nearly set the Embassy on fire in rage.

"Ack! Yang! Let me go!" Ruby squeaked as her hood fell off her head.

Yang rubbed Ruby's hair affectionately as she let go. "Aww come on, I can't greet my little sister like this anymore?"

Ruby grinned at her.

"Someone's excited." Hestia said as she reassembled her Arminius-D Auto Rifle. She was standing next to the bar in full gear. Her Duskrender armor was spick and span, recently repaired by Endeavor's engineers. "We're gonna have to wait a bit for Kevin and John to head back inside."

She looked over at Yang and Ruby with a smirk. "Nils is making hot chocolate."

"Was making hot chocolate." The second Titan announced as he walked in with a tray full of steaming mugs. "Ivan's got some soup in the back."

"Ooh, _Shchi?_ Awesome!" Xia sounded excited.

"Uh what's 'Shee'?" Ruby asked.

"Cabbage soup." Hestia answered, mag locking her rifle to her back. When she saw Ruby's expression she smiled. "Trust me, try it. It's very good."

"It's simple." Ivan set the large bowl of steaming soup down on the bar. He then returned with smaller bowls and eating utensils. "But Kevin is a better cook than I."

"Nonsense sonny." Xia said. "You've done an admirable job so far." She grabbed a bowl. "Come on, let's eat while we wait for the Gruesome Twosome to arrive."

Ruby giggled at the nickname as she accepted the bowl of steaming hot soup. They ate and chatted with the Guardians. Ruby saw all the newspaper articles about them, how they were so detached from the ordinary humans they worked hard to save. She even saw all the bad things people were trying to spin about them, that they enjoyed killing for the sake of it.

She knew differently now as she watched them laugh and annoy each other. They were still human, even if some of them were a bit strange.

Ruby tried her soup and realized that it was really, really good.

"Like I said," Ivan commented. "Simple but very easy to eat." The Warlock ladled out more bowls even as the back door opened and the Holdens walked in.

John kept his helmet off as he regarded his Scroll. "So what's going to be the score Kevin?" He asked his brother.

Kevin shrugged. "I thought Commander Gein put you in charge for this mission?" He asked raising a brow.

"Yeah, well..." John scratched the back of his head before he noticed everyone staring at them both. "Hey guys-Holy crap, is that _Shchi!?"_

"Yes." Ivan deadpanned.

John had a bowl of hot soup within moments as Kevin took his in a more calmer fashion and sat down next to Ruby and Yang.

"So what's the score?" Ruby asked.

"We're going into the Vale Dead Zone." Kevin didn't skip a beat.

Yang and Ruby looked at each other. The Vale Dead Zone was the name of the area where Grimm concentration was the highest. With the docks secured, most of the VPD were holding off Grimm incursions into areas where refugees were staying. The Dead Zone was also somewhat patrolled periodically by White Fang and vicious criminal outlaws who looked to prey on innocent victims.

On occasion Guardian Fireteams and VPD teams went out on patrol to do what they could in the Dead Zone but they knew it was only a stopgap measure. To retake the city would require unimaginable amounts of resources. Commander Edgar Gein and Captain Horatio Nelson of the _Nautilus_ were working out a strategy with what remained of the Vale Council and General Ironwood of Atlas. Nothing was forthcoming, which was frustrating.

"Did you find a trail?" Yang asked shakily. "Is there a sign of Blake anywhere?"

Kevin knew how worried Yang was. "There might be a trail, yes." He said softly. Kevin scooped up some more soup. "John doesn't want to rush this but we also have two other objectives in the DZ. One is Qrow Branwen, your uncle. He might have information about retaking the Capitol Building."

"Oh..." Ruby sounded surprised. "Really?"

Qrow Branwen was currently assigned to spying on White Fang activity. It was something the older Huntsman relished. Even if he was a bit of a dick, Kevin appreciated the man's brutal honesty and his experience rivaled the most seasoned Guardians in the Task Force. There was talk that Edgar had put his name forward as a recruit for the Guardians. All speculation of course.

"The other objective is rescuing Professor Glynda Goodwitch from Grimm." Kevin said. "Although 'rescuing' is a rather relative term."

"She's unbreakable, true." Yang agreed.

Glynda Goodwitch in the meantime had been out of contact. Just recently she had sent out a signal, detailing that she was helping defend a compound of refugees from the White Fang and the Grimm. She was dealing with it but she was going to need help soon.

"W-Well, shouldn't we help Uncle Qrow first?" Ruby asked.

"That's the problem, we don't know his last location. He wasn't exactly too willing to share that information." John spoke up as he sat beside Kevin. "First things first though, those refugees with Miss Goodwitch are going to need all the help they can get. They've got medicine but no food or water."

"I know we're looking for Blake, but I want to be thorough." John said. "I'd like to see Vale be rebuilt in a short amount of time eh?" The smile on his face grew wider as he noticed Yang scooting a bit closer to Kevin.

"Oh? You guys gonna tell me something?" John's brow quirked.

"I..." Kevin looked at Yang, she gave him a smile and punched his shoulder with her prosthetic arm. "Ow! What was that for!?"

"He's still being stubborn." Yang told John.

"Heh."

Kevin rolled his eyes. "I'm still trying to figure it out." He said.

"Figure what out exactly?" John asked grinning.

"What I want in another relationship." Kevin told him. The tone made it clear he wasn't very amused. John immediately clamped his mouth shut.

"Right, right." John smiled waving a hand. "Sorry to disturb you."

Yang and Ruby watched John depart almost immediately. Kevin became recalcitrant for the rest of the day, giving only one word answers. That worried Yang, she was also very curious about Kevin's answer about 'another relationship'.

What did he mean by that?

/

 _A week later..._

It was snowing by the time the group arrived at the docks. Yang kept her hands in the pockets of her brown parka as she waited with Ruby who was in similar winter gear. She looked over her Ember Celica Gauntlets briefly before letting them revert back to their bracelet forms.

Xia Zhang was in full gear, the eerie green eyes of the Mask of the Third Man glowed ominously as she looked over her Jade Rabbit scout rifle. The cloak she wore billowed in the wind. Strength of the Pack, the cloak was called. Said to have been worn by the Hunter Ana Bray during the fateful battle of the Twilight Gap. Next to her Nils tapped his helmet before pulling it on as he retrieved his shotgun which was leaning against an ammo crate.

Ivan looked back towards the Patch Island docks, his Hung Jury Scout rifle mag locked to his back. The Warlock was wearing strange glowing gauntlets, the Nothing Manacles as he called them. Ivan kept his Spektar hood on even as he spoke in low tones to his Ghost, Amelia.

Ruby's teeth chattered. "Gosh, it's so cold!" She said. "What's taking them so long?"

"Said they had to get a few things requisitioned from the armory." Xia commented. "Want me to give you a hug, little girl?"

Ruby backed away from Xia as Nils started to laugh.

"We're all here excellent." John Holden spoke up cheerily as he and Kevin walked over with Hestia. All of them were geared up.

"Yang, this is for you." John tossed Yang a Hakke Zarinaea-D Auto Rifle. She whistled as she took it in hand. While she preferred having her Ember Celica she did take the Weapons Creation Courses at Signal and Beacon Academy. She knew her way around a rifle but it was just not her style. She preferred punching things after all.

"Whoa, what is this? Early Christmas present?" Yang asked checking out the weapon she was given.

"I'd rather you have a secondary in case something goes wrong." John explained cheerfully. "It was Kevin's idea."

Kevin then handed Ruby a Hand Cannon, The Lord High Fixer. "Every Guardian Fireteam out there has several armaments on them at all times for every situation." He said to the both of them. "I'm sure your weapons are more than enough but like John, I prefer to be prepared for anything."

"It's okay." Ruby's eyes were sparkling as she checked out the Hand Cannon. "It's a really cool gun. It's a _really cool gun."_

Kevin sighed. "We'll get some practice in when we get to the DZ." He said. "John? Are we moving out?"

John smiled as he pulled on his helmet. "Yep."

/

The Vale Dead Zone.

The City was silent save for the cries and howl of the creatures of the Grimm. Xia took point, walking through the snowy streets. Chin to stock and eyes to scope the Hunter proceeded at a cautious but brisk pace, leading the group deeper into the city.

They were spread out, keeping their eyes on the windows of the buildings. Snipers were unlikely in this sector of the city but there was nothing wrong with caution. Everyone kept quiet, and it wasn't just because John ordered complete radio silence. The solemn, sad sight of a once proud city were enough for some of them.

For Ruby, she had to wonder just how anyone was going to be able to rebuild all this ruin...

She shook her head of such things as she gripped Crescent Rose tight.

Yang kept a tight grip on her new weapon as she followed Hestia, who took the rear. She had messed up before, losing her arm and all that. Now she was focused. She looked at her prosthetic and remembered the tears in her father's eyes as she got home.

She was going to make damn sure that nothing like this ever happened again. She wasn't going to make Ruby sad anymore. She looked forward seeing Xia suddenly raise her fist and slow down to a stop. She crouched.

The whole group did the same thing, scanning all sectors for any signs of the Grimm or another enemy. Yang was not used to it. Grimm didn't shoot and yet John's comrades were focused on being attacked from every angle. John advanced towards Xia's position, keeping his head down.

Kevin was right beside her, holding his Scout Rifle. He gave her a nod. Yang returned the gesture as she continued scanning the area for any movement. She hated the waiting. Always did.

/

"What is it?" John asked, whisper quiet as he chambered a round into Red Death.

"Saw something move near that Swifty Mart down the street." Xia said, pointing down the car strewn street. John kept his rifle shouldered as he turned back towards the group. He then gave a couple of hand signals, making sure the group knew that something was up.

John moved forward, using the abandoned cars for cover. He took a peak at the abandoned Swifty Mart. The door was ajar, swinging in the snowy wind.

"Let's check it out." John said over the group frequency. "Kevin, stay out on perimeter with Yang. Left Flank. Ivan, Xia you're on Right. Hestia, with me. Nils, Ruby you're following us in."

/

Kevin and Yang swept the area around the shop. "Keep close." He said, his Scout Rifle shouldered. The Tlaloc was a powerful weapon designed by Banshee-44. Very efficient and balanced. Not like the MIDA Multi-Tool though. Kevin wanted one of those. Rumors say that more refurbished arms were being churned out by the Vanguard. Every Guardian was earning their keep so they could get better guns. When he got back, Kevin knew there was a Shadow Price Auto Rifle out there with his name on it.

Yang whispered. "Hey, why are we out here?"

"To keep bad things from coming in or out." Kevin answered. "Every rifle and blade has its purpose. Without us, John and Ruby won't be leaving that building alive in a bad situation." The Stormcaller checked his sights again and froze.

"Shit, contact." Kevin raised the Tlaloc. Yang ducked into cover, her rifle raised. "Jackknife-One, this is Three. We've got contacts."

 _"Grimm?"_

"Yes." Kevin swore as he kept his sights trained on the Beowolves approaching their perimeter. "Fuck. There's ten of them coming in."

A sigh came in over the COMs. _"Great. Well, good news is someone left us a sign. A tiara of some sort. Looks like the one on Professor Goodwitch's cape..."_

"Do we engage?" Kevin asked.

 _"They're heading in our direction, waste them. Xia, how are things on your end?"_

 _"Dead silent. Apart from the Grimm friends we attracted somehow, does Kevin need assistance?"_

"Negative teacher." Kevin said. "I think Yang needs a little target practice."

Yang smirked.

Kevin took aim. Yang did the same. "So...first to ten buys food when we get back?" She asked.

"You're on then." Kevin said.

"Okay."

/

John let Jingles do the work for him. The Ghost was busy trying to make sense of what happened. There was a dead man in here, a Bear Faunus who was leaning against the wall covered in gruesome wounds. There were a total of five Beowolves in here, including a pack leader.

For an untrained Huntsman, it was a pretty badass way to go. John laid his hand on the dead man's shoulder in respect before Jingles approached.

"Professor Goodwitch was here." Jingles said. "But she probably headed back to the compound. I think this man was part of a survey group looking for any food and supplies the Grimm haven't gotten into."

Ruby heard their conversation. That was the annoying part about the Grimm, they didn't just kill everyone they got their claws on but they also destroyed architecture. Professor Port and Professor Oobleck had stated that this was the very reason why all four Kingdoms were not expanding.

Grimm attacks weren't just costly because of lives, the insane amount of damage they could do to a society's infrastructure was also massive.

"Find anything?" Nils asked her as they patrolled the store, his boots crushed glass into powder. Ruby avoided stepping on it. It was kinda funny for some reason.

"Nope." Ruby said as she held her new weapon. It was a bit heavy but she was starting to get used to it. "Apart from broken stuff."

Nils made a clicking noise. "Huh." He kept his rifle in hand as he lifted a fallen shelf with one hand. It looked heavy but the Titan lifted the darned thing like it was made out of Styrofoam.

"Eew..." Nils' Ghost, Rock, sounded disgusted as he regarded the dark dry stain on the tile floor. "That better be marinara sauce."

"Probably is." Nils kept going through the store, with Rock in tow. Compared to the serene Jingles, the snarky Martellus and the cheerful Sparky. Rock liked to complain. If the Guardians were somewhat strange to Ruby then their Ghosts were even stranger.

Something made a rustling noise in an aisle on the opposite side. Ruby raised her gun just as Nils did. "Xia, did you guys miss something on your sweep?" Nils asked over the COMs.

 _"No. Why?"_ Xia's voice was annoyed.

Nils swore silently. "Alright, something might be still in here then. John, you guys watch your backs. We just got an unknown contact in the building with us." He chambered a shell into his Solar Conspiracy Theory-D shotgun, mag-locking his SUROS PDX-41 on his back. "I'm about to make someone's day a lot worse."

"Hey, what if it's a citizen?" Ruby pouted.

"Then his day gets better." Nils grinned. "I won't punch him in the face."

/

Yang loaded a fresh mag into her weapon and kept firing. She saw Kevin take aim with his own weapon. A single crack and another Beowolf pitched forward, its mask shattered.

"That's another one for my tally." Kevin said smiling under his helmet. "I digress Yang, I think you beat me this round."

"Whoo!" Yang pumped her fist in the air. The smile on her face grew wider as she looked over at Kevin.

"Yeah, yeah...don't get so worked up." Kevin said. "You're a solid marksman Yang."

"You think I'm good?" Yang asked. "You should see Ruby when she's serious. I swear I've seen her hit a target at six hundred yards. Backwards I might add."

"Oh I am certain of that." Kevin said. "And I am never betting if she decides to ask me to play darts."

Yang chuckled as she scratched her head. Yeah, she made that mistake too and had lost more than enough Lien playing darts with Ruby. She had planned on taking advantage of that but Dad would have been furious if she took Ruby hustling.

 _"Uh...Kevin? Kevin do you read?"_ John's voice sounded through the group frequency.

Kevin put a hand to the side of his helm. "Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"

 _"See for yourself. There's someone I'd like you to meet."_

/

"Mister Kevin?"

Kevin was not happy. He was not happy at all. It had been two years since he had seen this little girl. She looked terrified but alive. That was what mattered.

"I remember you." Kevin said. "Elina Greenwood."

Said little girl smiled sadly and bobbed her head. "Mummy and Daddy wanted to see you again." She told him.

"...How are they?" Kevin asked.

"The White Fang got to them." Elina whispered hoarsely. "I don't even know if they're okay."

Kevin's fists clenched as his expression turned dangerously cold. "What are you doing out here alone?" He asked her.

"I...I was separated from Miss Goodwitch's group. It's been a few days." Elina looked helplessly at them. "I saw mister Rueben die, we got scattered." There were tears in her eyes but her pale face was an empty mask. She was not in a good way.

John exhaled. "Listen, we need to go there. Do you still know the way?" He asked, gently as he noticed Kevin's eyes narrowing in a quiet rage.

Elina trembled but she nodded, looking at John's kindly expression. "Yes?"

"Good. We'll take you there. Once we have a handle on the situation, we head back to the Docks as soon as we are able." John said. "Everyone get that? Sort yourselves out ladies and gentlemen, we're moving out without a moment's delay."

The Guardians sent their assent as Ruby holstered her Hand cannon before following Nils out the door. She saw a bunch of dead Beowolves out in the streets. Ruby turned her head to see Kevin and Yang still looking around for more enemies. Kevin was clenching and unclenching a fist, extremely angry. John was by his side, calming his brother down and placing a hand on his shoulder.

Yang gave her a smile which she returned. As soon as they were prepared the party of nine headed down the street, weapons at the ready. The City was dead, but creatures stalked the streets. What used to be a thirty minute walk turned into one that could last a whole night.

/

 _Earth Embassy, Island of Patch._

The door to Edgar's office slammed open as an irate General Ironwood entered the office followed by a worried Headmaster Ozpin with an apoplectic slam. Inside Keina Duvall smiled to herself as she sat in a comfy chair as Edgar looked up with a raised brow.

"There are rumors saying that you plan on releasing Roman Torchwick." Ironwood snarled. "I want you to explain that to me at once!"

"James, what on Remnant are you doing?" Ozpin said, trying to calm the general down.

Edgar stood up from his chair to look at Ironwood in the face. "And if I did sanction such an order?" He asked calmly weathering the general's choler. "He did offer to give up some information to me in exchange for keeping his miserable life."

"That man is a criminal mastermind!" Ironwood exclaimed. "You're making a mistake!"

"Why do you think I have Guardians on his tail?" Edgar asked raising a brow. "Two of which are Miss Duvall..."

Keina waved when Ozpin and Ironwood regarded her for a moment.

"And Loki who is unfortunately on his shift right now." Edgar then briefly regarded the map of Vale on the left side of his wall. "You have nothing to fear of course, once this current crisis is over I will give him over to the proper Vale authorities. In the meantime, should he make the unfortunate mistake of crossing me I will have him annihilated."

He sat back down behind his desk. "In the meantime I suppose you have business with me?" He asked the General blithely.

"Don't you toy with me, _Commander_." Ironwood spoke with steel in his voice.

Edgar narrowed his eyes at the implied threat as he leaned forward to stare the general in the eye. "Is there going to be a problem here, _General_?" His tone grew frosty.

"Obviously." Ironwood said eyes narrowed. "You still haven't explained much about _why_ you are here."

"I thought that was covered in the first meeting at this very embassy." Keina tittered.

"And who asked you for your opinion?" Ironwood barked at her. Keina smirked as her smile turned predatory. If it was possible, Ozpin could have sworn that the walls would have started bleeding...

"James." Ozpin said before a fight could escalate. He took a deep breath. "Commander, we were briefed yes but the very nature of this...Darkness is a bit..."

"Terrifyingly vague?" Keina supplied.

"Er...Yes." Ozpin said. "Thank you Madame Duvall."

Keina grinned as Edgar leaned back in his chair. "I see..." Edgar said. "You are not the first to ask me of the Darkness." His tone was mild. "As to your question, there are many theories. There are those who believe that it is evil in its purest form. Others believe that it is a vast armada of alien life that is ready to wipe us all out."

Edgar shrugged. "It is an enemy. Nothing more, nothing less." He said. "Now, it is my turn to ask you something. What do you believe the Creatures of the Grimm are?"

"They're..." Ironwood shook his head. "Soulless creatures of destruction, driven only to kill."

"And history has shown us that they just appeared on Remnant during the dawn of mankind." Ozpin added. "Studying them has been difficult, as you have found out."

"Yes...Even the Cryptarchs on the Nautilus have been telling me so." Edgar nodded. "My belief? I think they are remnants of the Darkness when it visited this planet a very long time ago."

"Do tell." Ozpin said.

"I'm just throwing out theories but I have reason to believe that Remnant had been visited by the Traveler and the Darkness eons ago, hence why your society has evolved differently from Earth." Edgar said. "I've yet to find a connection but..." He again shrugged. "Such studies will have to wait until this crisis has been managed."

Ozpin looked to James Ironwood. "There are also concerns about Faunus gangs operating in the refugee camps." The general remarked. "We'd like to request more men for that."

"That is not an unreasonable request, of course." Edgar told him mildly. "I'll put several marine squads and a Guardian team on station. How about that?"

Ironwood narrowed his eyes. "Your Guardians have a bit too much firepower to take on street gangs don't you think?"

"General, I will be quite frank with you. These street gangs have the support of a very powerful insurgency. One that we beat back with quite a few casualties." Edgar replied looking the general in the eye. "Some of us have underestimated them at our own peril."

There was a rebuke in there that Ozpin heard and he just let it wash over him. Ironwood bristled at it.

"I will place Fireteam Grendel in charge of that operation." Edgar said. " Grendel One, Karl Whittaker, will be briefed on his objectives."

"I trust that this Fireteam knows what it's doing?" Ironwood asked. "You said in the briefing that you all have been fighting aliens."

"Oh, yes." Edgar said smiling. "Yes they know what they are doing. Much like Emeici and Jackknife, Grendel's members are a stubbornly ruthless lot."

Edgar leaned back in his chair. "They'll clean up this mess, gentlemen. I can promise you that."

"Very well," Ozpin said. "I do want to add one stipulation, Commander."

"And that is?"

"I would like you to ask Mister Arc to tag along as well." Ozpin said. "The boy is...cowardly at times but he has a good head on his shoulders. I believe having some experience will help him grow faster."

"Very well, I suppose he'd be glad for the extra credit?" Edgar asked.

"Perhaps." Ozpin had to admit. That was a pretty good joke.

/

It was dark out, which made it bad. The group was currently holed up in a warehouse, they used the wooden crates as a makeshift barricade in case things got rough, staying in a semicircular formation. They took watches in shifts. Ivan Searle was on first watch alongside Ruby.

The other Warlock had his eye out on the perimeter. Ruby watched him closely. Ivan seemed to be whispering something even as he checked his weapon one more time before settling in for a four hour watch.

Ruby frowned. She would rather have had Hestia or Nils as a companion on watch. Ivan was a bit of a jerk to everyone but there was no mistaking that he was a skilled combatant. He could do better if he was a bit nicer though, she didn't understand why he was so mean sometimes.

Ivan then made a gesture before returning to watch in silence.

"If you can spend time staring at me, then you can keep an eye out on the perimeter."

His chilly tone snapped Ruby out of her reverie. She scowled at Ivan.

"Sorry, it's just way too quiet." She mumbled. "It's making me nervous."

"That's better than being complacent." Ivan told her.

Ruby grumbled again.

/

"It was totally Whittaker who won that fight." Nils told Hestia.

"That's a load of bull and you know it." Hestia answered. "I was sure Tybalt had his ass on the run. Three on three is a lot more personal than six on six."

"Tybalt had stopping power Hes, a dinky little auto rifle ain't gonna do much against an Eyasluna." Nils argued.

"It won't matter if Tybalt can't shoot straight." Hestia argued back. "Or if his back was turned."

"...What the hell are they talking about?" Yang asked Kevin who was busy with cleaning out the barrel of his Tlaloc.

"The Crucible." Kevin answered. "Basically an all out brawl between Guardians. It's good combat training."

"Are they really talking about that three versus three?" John asked. "Because it was clearly a draw."

 _Boom._

Everyone had their weapons out and had gotten into cover.

"Ivan, Ruby! See anything!?" John barked over the COMs.

 _"Negative, but there's gunfire now."_ Ivan calmly replied. _"Orders?"_

"We move. Now!"

/

Yang looked to the side at the small girl she was now responsible for. She didn't complain. Elina Greenwood looked furtively from side to side as the group advanced. She looked so frightened it triggered something in Yang. She wanted to hug the little girl close and never let go.

"Jingles, cycle through all Vale Police Department Frequencies and see if anyone's out in the DZ." John spoke up.

"Cycling..." Jingles' plates cycled around her frame. "I found a possible frequency."

Static burst in John's ear. His helmet's systems compensated and did their best to clean up the signal.

 _"We're taking fire from White Fang, is there anyone out there!?"_ More Gunfire. _"-We are gonna get overrun here without assistance-shit! Man down!"_

"I need coordinates, Jingles." John said. "I need them now."

"Hold on, let me clean this static up..." Jingles' plates revolved again. "Got it, I have a navigation marker!"

John picked out his team. "Hestia, Xia you're with me. Kevin, Ivan, Nils you guys follow us in at our signal. Ruby, you and Yang are responsible for Elina."

Yang looked ready to protest but she nodded. Ruby loaded a cylinder of ammo into her hand cannon.

"I know it's shit duty." John said. "But gunfights equal Grimm. You two can handle this right?"

"Yeah," Ruby chirped. "We'll take care of Elina."

John gave them a thumbs up before pulling his helmet on. "Let's go."

/

The VPD were caught up in a firefight.

Xia kept the scope of her LDR-5001 sniper rifle on the more burly bastard with the grenade launcher. That was going to be a bit troublesome. She sighed as she contacted John over the COMs. "Got a troublemaker with a grenade launcher doing some serious damage here."

"Yeah, I got another one as well." John muttered. "Kevin, you got eyes on a grenadier about five hundred meters from my position?"

 _"Roger, I do. I see the other guy doing his thing as well. Take him out?"_

"On Xia's signal we hit them with precision shots. We need to make this quick guys." John said over the group comms. "Yang, Ruby how's Elina doing?"

 _"She's obviously frightened."_ Yang said. _"We're fine by the way."_

"Ah, that's good." John said. "Okay, guys..." He looked at Xia, who was crouched. He raised his hand and gave her the signal to fire.

"Give them hell!"

Xia's sniper rifle boomed.

The White Fang grenadier on the left flank crumpled to the floor dead. As the insurgents realized that something was wrong, their second grenadier went down. Three more insurgents died as John Holden's surprise attack took them by surprise in a hail of gunfire. Kevin took his own team and hit them from the other side, catching the White Fang insurgents in a textbook crossfire. Within minutes, Emeici and Jackknife won the day.

"Yang, Ruby move up." Kevin called the two over as John walked over to the VPD officers taking cover in the square shaped fountain. He raised his hand in a non-hostile gesture as the VPD officer in charge did the same with his weapon.

"Shit, not just one Guardian team but two?" The officer grinned beneath his balaclava. "Thanks."

"It's no trouble. But what the hell, I'll bite." John said. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"We're helping out Professor Goodwitch...I assume you guys are headed in the same direction?"

"Yep." John nodded cheerfully. "How is she by the way?"

"Pretty good actually." The officer replied. "Come on, the compound's not far from here..."

"We can talk while we're on the move." John told the officer. "What's the compound's situation?"

"Food and water are starting to be a problem." The officer told him. "We've got a huge medicine store, which is working out for us. But..." He looked hesitant.

"But what?" John pressed.

"Got some tension. People are blamin' the Faunus." The officer spoke. "You know, the usual."

John sighed to himself. "People do realize that everyone has the shit up to their necks right?"

"People are dumb." The officer muttered.

/

Thanks to the efforts of the Vale Police Department and Professor Goodwitch, the City Postal Office had become a well defended bastion for survivors of the attack. Other than a pack of Beowolves, John and his group managed to reach the post office in relative safety. Exhausted, but satisfied with the completion of his mission John looked forward to his debrief.

The post office was a center of activity. John could see refugees chattering, worrying, fearing. The Faunus and humans were in two different locations but there was no conflict. Not when the Guardians of Fireteam Emeici and Jackknife were present.

Especially not when Glynda Goodwitch was there speaking with a police Captain. The blonde professor pushed her glasses up and narrowed her eyes at John who walked over.

"Mister Holden. It is good to see you again." Goodwitch said, as unshakable as ever. "I wish we could have reunited in better circumstances..."

John removed his helmet and looked around at the somewhat controlled chaos. "Meh, it could be worse." He said. "The situation?"

"As it is right now, terrible." Goodwitch shrugged. "But people are alive. We are having a bit of trouble with food supplies. Furthermore-"

There was shouting and a pair of men started swinging at each other. A wolf Faunus and a large burly man were beating the hell out of each other.

Before the VPD could react, Nils and Kevin were already pulling the two idiots off of each other.

"Fucking animal, I'll beat your ass blue if I see you looking at me again!" The human said.

"I didn't even do anything!" The Faunus exclaimed. "Get this crazy guy out of here."

"Enough." Nils said shoving the Faunus backwards. The Titan loomed over the Wolf Faunus. "It's not worth the fight, buddy."

"What are you gonna do punk, you gonna save the animal over there?" The human sneered in Kevin's faceplate.

"You have about five seconds to shut your mouth before I incapacitate you." Kevin said quietly unbuckling the holster of his sidearm. The human wisely made the decision to back off, Kevin quickly buckled his holster again as the tensions eased off. Nils glared at the Faunus who walked away quickly.

"Well, that was settled rather quickly." Jingles quipped.

John shook his head before returning to Glynda who nodded appreciatively in Nils' direction. "I see that you Guardians know how to deal with these situations."

"Most people wisely back off if we're around." John said. "It's not a permanent solution but we get by." The Warlock looked around. "The folks back on Patch would like to have you guys back on the island, just giving you the details Professor."

"It would be unfeasible to move this much people." Glynda replied. "The Grimm would be on to the refugees' movements. I do not have enough people to protect them in such a situation." The blonde professor pinched her nose. "Would it be possible for them to send reinforcements?"

"Judging from the route we took here? It was pretty quiet but we just rescued a VPD squad from a White Fang ambush. As for the Grimm..." John sighed. "You got a map?"

"This way, we have an office set up." Glynda gestured to a hallway to the side.

Before departing John looked to Xia. "You're in charge, make sure everyone gets a hot meal and some rest." He told her. "Then see what you guys can do to help. I'm sure they need a hand around this place."

Xia nodded. "What about the girl?" She and John looked at Elina Greenwood being comforted by Yang and Ruby. Kevin had stalked off to go find some blankets, the others were standing by in case something else happened. Nils was already chatting with some of the officers on guard duty, asking them what the supply situation was and how they were dealing with Grimm, White Fang and other complications.

"Keep an eye on her."

/

There wasn't much but at least the soup was hot. Kevin sat down on his designated cot in one of the heated tents in the secure perimeter of the refugee camp. It started snowing just before 2100 hours, and visibility was going to be a bit poor.

Thank the Traveler for helmets.

"Kevin?" Yang poked her head into the tent, grinning when she saw Kevin trying to have some soup. "You really gonna stay in here the whole time?"

"It's better than freezing my butt off out there." Kevin muttered.

Yang smiled even wider and decided to sit down next to the Warlock. "Hey...uh...so, what are we gonna do when we get back to Patch?"

"Right. The bet." Kevin said. "So...you want to go out somewhere?"

His tone was so bland that Yang had to process the information before smiling even wider. "I must have done something right." She sidled up closer. "I guess the good old Yang Xiao Long charm is working after all."

Kevin smirked as he finished his soup. "Whatever you say, Yang..."

They stayed silent. "...I wish Blake was here." Yang whispered.

"We'll find her." Kevin said. "I will promise you that." The Stormcaller stood up to discard his bowl. "Come on, let's see what we can do to help around here."

"What happened to not freezing your butt off?" Yang asked.

"Getting my blood flowing will help. March." Kevin replied.

Yang snickered.

/

 _Island of Patch, Fireteam Grendel and Team JNPR._

Karl Whittaker muttered to himself as he marched Fireteam Grendel and Team JNPR through the police tape surrounding the property.

"Hey, you can't just-" A VPD officer gaped at the faceplate of Karl's Iron Camelot helm and decided to back off wisely. The Sergeant in charge of the scene, Jamie Linecaster, sighed frustrated as she saw the Titan approach.

"Look, I know you're a Guardian and all but could you please just calm down and stop freaking my boys out?" Jamie asked him.

"Not doing it on intention, Sergeant." Karl nodded at the crime scene. "What happened here?"

"A drive by shooting by White Fang thugs. Call themselves the Shark Teeth." Linecaster said. "Bastards target any Faunus or Humans on sight for the hell of it. They hate refugees even more."

"Are they local?" Levi Dillinger asked, the Warlock hefting his Strongbow-D shotgun.

"They've got more guys operating near the docks...even more in the rural areas." Jamie shrugged. "They've never been _this_ active before."

"We're about to make them inactive." Karl said. He turned to team JNPR who were looking at the tarp covered bodies. Jaune in particular looked numb. Karl walked over as Pyrrha put her hand gently on the blonde boy's shoulder.

"Kid." Karl said.

Jaune shook himself out of his stupor. "Um..."

"You see what the stakes are now?" Karl asked as he loomed over the young boy. "There are guys out there who think they can do whatever they want just because the City was attacked." The Titan looked Jaune in the eye. "We're gonna go and stop them. Your Headmaster says you're a brave kid."

"Um...Mister Whittaker-" Pyrrha looked ready to intervene.

"Don't." Kelly told the redhead. "Let Karl do his thing."

"Uh...well, my friends think I'm brave." Jaune answered sheepishly.

Nora was about to say something encouraging but Ren put a hand on her mouth to keep her from starting.

"You clammed up in front of those bodies though." Karl said. Jaune winced as the Titan observed him. "Humph. You'll do kid."

"Er...what?" Jaune asked.

"I said you'll do kid, don't worry. We were all newbies once." Karl told him, all unsettlingly direct. "You'll grow into this. Follow my orders and I'll keep ya alive."

"Uh...sure." Jaune looked unsure but a smile from Pyrrha fixed that.

"Hate to interrupt you guys but we have a developing situation over down by the docks." Jamie had run over to the group.

"What's up?"

"A firefight, someone's trying to steal some supplies. We gotta get over there." Jamie asked.

"Right." Karl said. "Let's move people. We've got work to do!"

As the officers moved towards the situation, Jaune felt the very same icy fear in his veins. But he then saw who he was following. Karl Whittaker might not be the most polite person he had met, he wasn't like Kevin at all, but seeing him in full armor and leading the charge...

He wasn't a proper Huntsman but he'd show these guys that he could hack it with the rest of them.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked seeing that Jaune was smiling.

"I'm okay, Pyrrha." Jaune replied. "Come on let's get moving. We've got bad guys to stop."

/

 _Vale Dead Zone, City Post Office._

 _"All VPD squads, stand to! Stand to! Grimm are inbound! All non essential personnel are to report to shelters immediately! I repeat Grimm are inbound! All non essential personnel are to report to shelters immediately!"_

"You hear that boys and girls?" John spoke over the Fireteam frequency. Yang heard through her communication bead. "Grimm! We're being attacked by furry little critters who don't know any better!"

John cocked his rifle. "The VPD's been holding their ground here, fellas! Let's give them a hand!"

There were reports of Grimm attacking the north and eastern sections of the refugee camp. Fireteam Emeici was stationed at the north, and she was enjoying it. Jackknife was on the east and already flares had been fired a few hundred meters out, marking the line where the enemy was not allowed to cross.

Situated behind sandbags and other barricades, the VPD officers readied their guns and blades. Kevin loaded a new ammo belt into his Ruin Wake machine gun as Yang covered him with her Zarinaea. She gave a Ruby a wave as she and Hestia readied themselves for the onslaught.

Out in the darkness, a horde of Grimm advanced with howls and roars. Beowolves loped on all four, eager for blood as Boarbatusks squealed their anger.

"That's it! Give them hell!" A Police Captain roared and a storm of gunfire erupted from the human lines.

Battle was joined. And the City of Vale rang with the sound of gunfire.

/

 **The first chapter of Nightfall is up. Again, thanks for all the support from Stormcaller and I hope you all enjoy.**


	2. Chapter 2

2

Blizzard/Into the Dark/Steel and Might

 **Destiny=Bungie**

 **RWBY=Rooster Teeth**

/

 _Grimoire Card Unlocked: RECRUITS_

 _Edgar: Here are several names that I put up, Headmaster._

 _Ozpin: You mean to recruit some of my students as Guardians, Commander?_

 _Edgar: Depending on what path they choose in life of course._

 _Ozpin: This seems to be quite strange..._

 _Edgar: I assure you, we do the same on Earth. Human. EXO. Awoken. It matters not who the Traveler or its Ghosts chooses. When a Guardian is chosen, he or she is chosen._

 _Ozpin: I am unsure about this...To place such a burden on children._

 _Edgar: If the galaxy was not in such a conflict, I would not have put these names forward. You said it yourself did you not? Our future is dependent on the young._

 _Ozpin: I had hoped that time would be long delayed._

 _Edgar: Headmaster, I could be dead the next day. So could you. So could any one of us. As members of the past generation we should be encouraging the young to be ready. Yes, they are children. Yes, they deserve to be happy. If I could shoulder this burden alone, I would fight for them. But we're not going to be there forever. Everyone must stand on their own two feet._

 _Ozpin: For a man with a vicious reputation, you're quite an idealist._

 _Edgar: (Laughter) I fight so that there will be a time that does not need men like me to exist._

/

 _Vale City Post Office, morning..._

They won that fight.

John nursed his mug of coffee as he waited for Glynda Goodwitch to show up. He felt groggy and he wanted nothing more than to take a good long nap. Good thing Kevin was on watch duty, because no one was going to wake Hestia up. Other than Nils and Ivan, everyone else in their little group was asleep.

They held the post office against the Grimm but there were some casualties and already people were complaining, wanting to leave for the docks. Which was why this meeting was being held at 0800 in the morning. Kevin may have thought that it was a reasonable time to be up in the morning but John personally believed that any time before noon was time for sleep.

John took another sip of coffee as Glynda stepped in, just having finished working on a crew to repair the defenses. All they needed were volunteers for the next step: getting enough trucks and buses to evacuate the refugees back towards the docks. He set his coffee mug down.

Time to get to work.

"What's the score?" John asked.

"We have a good location to find some vehicles to get everyone to safety." Glynda told him. "The problem is actually finding ones that are serviceable and..."

"And...?" John pressed.

"It's surrounded by Grimm, and the White Fang might be in the area as well." Glynda pointed at the map, the tip of her riding crop sitting exactly on the Vale Metropolis Bus Barn. "It's quite a walk from here..."

"We're going to need to escort some mechanics up there." John traced the route. A few turns here and there but there was going to be a bunch of abandoned cars in the roads, Hestia and Nils would probably be responsible for that. They could use explosives of course, but that would only attract Grimm. "Gas is also going to be trouble."

Glynda looked at the map. "Hmm...the nearest depot would be here." She said pointing east. "And if we triangulate..."

"It should take a few hours." John said rubbing his chin. "Let me get some scouts and I'll get back to you on a plan, professor."

"Very well, I shall have Team CRDL and Team CFVY put under your command." Glynda told him. The professor pushed her glasses up her nose looking at John pointedly. The Sunsinger shrugged. There wasn't anything else to say. Ever since the Guardians of Endeavor revealed themselves, there was mistrust and there was admiration. Just like in the Last City, there were many ordinary humans who feared the Guardians' strength. John did not let such arrogance go through his mind. There were many who thought like him but often times rumor and stories came through about such men and women who looked down on the ordinary folk with disdain.

John just did what he could, if Goodwitch didn't like him then so be it. He'd do his job, that was what Edgar had ordered. Do your job and don't complain, that was how he worked through his second life.

"Is there something wrong?" John asked plainly.

"You Guardians are quite the bunch." Glynda commented. "I've been hearing things, both good and bad about all of you."

"We do what we have to for humanity's sake." John said. "Simple as that."

"But those...executions. The White Fang are terrorists yes but-"

"Miss Goodwitch, I will not discuss my commander's intentions nor will I debate the morality of executing enemies." John spoke seriously. "We don't have the time to talk about it. We have refugees to evacuate. When this...situation has been handled, we'll talk."

The Sunsinger smiled. "And I'd have to ask you not to bother Kevin about it either." He told the blonde professor blithely. "As he would probably give a similar answer."

Glynda frowned at the mention of Kevin's name. She had been there when Commander Edgar Gein told them the truth of who he was and who the men and women were under his command. She had seen Kevin there, his helmet in the crook of his arm. He had definitely changed from the sleepy looking young boy to a hardened combat veteran. It irked her how young some of the Guardians were, some of them had not even reached maturity yet.

Things had changed for Vale radically. She could not imagine what kind of society the Holdens came from.

/

Nils put the last sandbag down and looked around. Already the smoldering corpses of the Grimm were almost gone. At least clean up was easier...Apart from the human and Faunus casualties. Nils straightened out the barricade, the Titan's augmented strength making it a rather menial task.

With nary a grunt Nils kept up at his task all the while keeping an eye out for more furry friends, or white masked folks with guns and knives. It'd be just like the White Fang to just show up too. He was ready for them, assuming this snow would ever stop.

The Titan looked up. He did not like the looks of those clouds. He really did not like the looks of those clouds.

"Nils!"

The Titan turned his head to see Xia in full regalia. Cradling her Jade Rabbit in hands she walked over. She shook her head as the snow kept falling. "Fucking snow." She muttered. "Everyone's trying to keep warm and you're still out here with the barricades."

"It's probably going to be a pointless task." Nils said blandly, as he leaned on the sandbags. "Judging from the snow."

"Come on then," Xia spoke. "Ivan just woke up and got started on the coffee."

"Anything to eat?" Nils asked.

"Just some bread. We're rationing stuff remember?"

"Ah."

/

 _"We're getting reports of a snowstorm heading into the city..."_

"Shit." Ivan muttered as the radio started acting up. He slapped it on the side. "Come on."

"We already knew it was going to be bad news anyway." Nils said cheerfully as he put his coffee mug down. Outside of the shelter, things were already looking bad. The wind was picking up and more snow was falling down. Teams of volunteers were shoveling as much of it out of the entrances. At least the Grimm were probably going to freeze to death outside.

Still, they kept a watch out. John was already reconfiguring his plans if the weather hopefully let up. They still needed to secure the buses, fuel and spare parts.

"Still, that's some seriously shit timing." Kevin commented as he closed his book. Sparky hovered over his shoulder briefly before floating away. The Ghost had already done his task, making sure ammo was stocked up. The Ghosts always drew stares. Curious kids likened them to little guardian angels.

Jingles was one of the most popular.

Yang glared at the radio. "We're supposed to be looking for Blake, damnit." She muttered.

"With this weather, we can't do anything." Kevin chided her gently. "If anything, I would be surprised if Blake hadn't escaped on her own already."

"You think she's okay?" Ruby asked, hesitantly.

"I'm sure she is." Kevin whispered. "Come on Yang, cheer up for a little bit."

Yang looked down at her feet instead but she said nothing. Kevin offered her a cup of coffee. It was around 1030 hours in the morning. The storm had arrived three hours ago. It didn't look like it was going to get any better until near nightfall.

"Still think we should head out?" Hestia asked Kevin who shrugged.

"We probably could." Kevin said. "It's not the first time I've walked out into a storm."

"Right...You went Stormcaller." Hestia murmured. "And you were among the first."

"Um...Stormcaller?" Yang asked. "The heck does that mean?"

"My subclass." Kevin said as Arc energy sparked to life in his hand. "Depending on what type of Guardian you are you get a certain skill set to go along with it. For example, Hestia is a Defender. She specializes in defense."

"I can put up barriers." Hestia remarked simply. "And my punches give me an extra defense in turn."

"So...You guys have Auras and Semblances?" Ruby piped up.

"No...we use the Traveler's Light." Kevin said. "I mean, sure I can't punch through metal or go faster than the speed of sound but I can hold my own."

"Can't punch through metal? Is that what you call it?" Yang smirked. "I obviously am that awesome."

Kevin raised a brow. "Then how come you still struggle during Oobleck's surprise quizzes?"

That gave Hestia a laugh even as Yang reddened and scratched the back of her head. She then scowled as she marched up to Kevin. "Yeah!? I'm not the one who sucks at Dungeon Crawler!" She groused back.

Seeing the twinkle in her eye, Kevin returned with a barb of his own. "At least I don't make awful puns."

"Oh, it's on!" Yang said. "I challenge you to an arm wrestling match!"

Ruby giggled as Hestia quietly set a table down.

"Seriously?" Kevin asked.

"Seriously." Yang looked quite competitive.

"Ugh..."

Just before the match could even begin, John opened the door. "Sorry guys, but I'm putting two of you on call." He went straight to business, raising a brow as Yang and Kevin looked ready to engage in an arm wrestling match. "Guys?"

Quickly standing up Kevin cleared his throat as Yang gave a nervous grin. John was usually quite jolly but when he was serious no one wanted to really test his temper. Right now he looked like he had lost quite a bit of sleep. So much so that there were bags under his eyes.

"Sorry, what do you need?" Ruby asked.

"I need two scouts to head to the nearest gas depot." John said tiredly. "Weather's gonna slow up for a little bit in the coming hours or so I've heard. When the blizzard passes, we're going to have to move fast and get some buses here in order to get people to the Docks."

"So we're walking into a storm. Perfect." Nils spoke cheerfully. "I suppose we're drawing straws on this one."

"I'll go." Kevin said, calmly. "Easy as that, right?"

"I will too!" Ruby piped up.

"No, Ruby." Yang shook her head. "Absolutely out of the question. I'm not gonna let you go out there."

"But, sis!" Ruby complained. "I can handle this!"

"No!"

"Sis!"

"Okay, let's settle this down before we get yelled at for the noise." Hestia separated the two quite easily. It was hard to argue with a woman who could bench press a truck. "Why are you so adamant about this Yang? Ruby can handle her own in a fight."

"I'm not losing her." Yang said resolutely. "You're sending out two scouts on a risky journey to see if you can get some gas. I'd like to go in Ruby's place."

"Denied." John crossed his arms. "I'm sure you've got experience too, but Ruby needs to learn how to do things herself Yang. Which is why I'm sending Ivan out with her." That decision was rather shocking.

"John, I can go if you need me to." Kevin said.

"It is fine." Ivan spoke up. He looked at Ruby with his hazel eyes. "Rose is competent enough to stand with us."

Yang bristled at the tone and Ruby frowned at the barb he sent her way. "Listen buddy." Yang marched up to Ivan who glared at her. "She'd better be in one piece after this."

"That is not up to me." Ivan said quietly. "It's all on her." With that Ivan stalked out to prepare.

John rubbed his forehead. "Damn, Xia. You've got a cold kid there."

"Cold, yes." Xia grinned. "But he's a solid marksman and dependable. Even if he is a cold fish, Ivan's someone you want on your back, little girl." She directed this statement to Ruby. "He'll keep ya in one piece."

"Ugh...He's so mean though!" Ruby complained.

"He's mean to everyone." Nils shrugged.

"I heard you _suka!"_ Ivan called back.

"See?"

/

 _He'll keep ya in one piece._

Ruby pulled on her balaclava as she hefted Crescent Rose. Beside her, Ivan checked his Pulse Rifle, The Villainy. It was bad out there but the storm had mellowed out quite a bit. Ruby followed Ivan as the Warlock moved quickly into cover behind an abandoned car.

"Move it, yes?" Ivan's voice was colder than the storm outside.

Ruby zipped into position beside the Warlock. "Happy now?" She asked him.

Ivan shrugged as he peeked out of cover. "Amelia, get me a navigation marker to the next point on our route." He said, ignoring Ruby.

"I'm on it." Amelia responded. Ivan's heads up display soon had a marker on a set of doors. "You both will have to go through that office building."

"Grimm?" Ruby asked.

"Hopefully not," Ivan said as he switched to his shotgun. "Let's move comrade, we have a gas station to scout out."

"Right behind you." Ruby went for her Lord High Fixer and followed the Warlock. Ivan clenched his prosthetic fist and punched the glass panel on the door in to unlock it. He pushed the door in and hefted his shotgun.

He whistled. "This reminds me way too much of Europe...What's left of it at least." He muttered to Amelia.

"Um..." Ruby didn't want to pry.

"You're seeing all this ruin right?" Ivan asked. "This is our home on a thousand fold scale. We're fighting so that things like this _never_ happen again." The Warlock stepped inside. "I'm sure you understand."

Ruby did...but she wondered why Ivan was so cold. Maybe he lost somebody important. She sighed.

The office building was pretty quiet, the lights were smashed in but some flickered on and off. It was very creepy.

"Amelia, where are we headed?" Ivan asked. "Unless you'd like to access a computer for the schematics of the building?"

"No...There." Amelia put a marker up for Ivan to follow. "There's a fire exit there that's just open. It should take you into an alleyway and onto the next street."

"Good. I was hoping for an unnecessarily complicated trek through the upper floors where we get caught up by a horde of Grimm and nearly eaten alive for our troubles." Ivan quipped. He nudged his head at Ruby. "Come, we must go quickly."

Ruby followed Ivan, weapon gripped tightly. It may have been quiet now but trouble had a way of finding them. She knew she could cope. She had a good partner after all. She just wished that Yang could have gone but John had told her that it was a risk.

 _A few hours before..._

"I'd like Yang to go with you but I need this to be relatively stealthy." John told Ruby as she pulled on her cloak.

"I know." Ruby said. "Yang can be such a worry wart." She groused as she buckled on her belt and the holster holding the Lord High Fixer.

"Hey, come on. She's family." John told her. "Family sticks together. Why do you think I have Jingles keep a tab on Kevin most of the time?"

Ruby giggled. She could imagine Kevin's reaction to that statement.

"I can understand why Yang is upset." John crossed his arms. "When we first became Guardians my first reaction upon seeing Kevin with a gun was to punch him in the face." He chuckled ruefully. "I was so angry."

That surprised Ruby. "You did?"

"Yeah," John laughed. "We've been through some serious stuff...me, Kevin and Hestia. Then after all that Kevin volunteered to go out on patrol to look for refugees. He was out there for months, I was biting my fingernails and I dreaded looking at the list of names."

"Family sticks together." John repeated. "You take care of your sister alright? Us older siblings may seem invincible but we're all worry warts all the same."

 _Presently..._

Ruby spun Crescent Rose with a flourish before bisecting the Beowolf in half. She moved to the next opponent even as Ivan covered the rear with his Pulse Rifle, putting down another Grimm with a series of accurate bursts of fire.

"Let's go, Ivan!" Ruby called out. The Warlock nodded his assent and stood up, following the Huntress in training silently. He loaded a fresh magazine into his rifle. Side by side, the unlikely pair rushed down the street ignoring the howl of the now alerted Beowolf pack coming towards them.

Ivan turned around and sighted up his rifle. It was snowing again but he wasn't going to tango with the Grimm. He swore angrily under his breath as he kicked the door to a small cafe in. "Inside, now!" He yelled at Ruby.

As soon as the girl was in, Ivan quickly hauled a shelf into place. Ruby helped as best as she could. Soon enough they kept hidden as the Beowolf pack raced on, not heeding the fact that their prey had escaped notice.

Ivan exhaled quietly as he set his rifle down and fished out a Scroll. Ruby did the same as Amelia popped into sight.

"Well, I suppose that could have been much worse." Amelia remarked.

"We'd be stuck there for hours if we stayed to fight." Ivan said. "Good shooting, Rose. I'm impressed."

"Is that sarcasm?" Ruby asked beaming.

"Would you like it to be?" Ivan returned.

"Jerk!" Ruby pouted and crossed her arms.

 _"Dah, Dah..._ " Ivan shook his head as he switched out the Villainy for his personal weapon, Doctrine of Passing. The sleek automatic rifle appeared in his hands in a stream of lights. The Warlock chambered a round. "Let's get moving. I suppose we should find the emergency exit and head out, Amelia?"

"Yes. Then take a right as soon as you're able. It is a few more meters to our objective." The Ghost replied.

"Good." Ruby muttered. "After all this, I just want to get to bed already."

"And a shower would be nice..." Ivan added.

"That too."

/

 _Refugee Compound._

"Yang, you're gonna dig a moat with all the pacing you're doing." Kevin spoke up as he looked at his Scroll again. Not much news back at Patch, other than the fact that Edgar was assuaging fears of Faunus gang attacks on the docks now that one of his Fireteams was on case. Kevin felt sorry for whoever pulled that duty. Policing civvies was a nightmare that most Guardians refuse to talk about.

Sure the Last City had its ups and downs but food riots were not uncommon. Kevin had heard horror stories from Fireteams before. John had personally mentioned that he never wanted to volunteer for civil protector duty ever again.

"Well I can't stop until I know they made it back." Yang said glowering at the wall.

"Suit yourself." Kevin shrugged his shoulders. "We've got four more hours before our watch ends so be ready for a long wait."

Yang sighed and sat on an unused crate. She crossed her arms as she watched Kevin stalk towards the window, watching the storm. She hopped off and heard him mutter something.

"Harmony within, Hurricane without." Kevin murmured. He turned to her. "What's up?"

"This...Stormcaller thing, what exactly was it?" Yang said. "Like...a spirit quest or something?"

"In a way." Kevin answered. "I was one of the first."

"What did you do?" Yang asked.

Kevin told her.

/

 _A few years ago..._

 _Blind Watch, Mars_

Arc Storms were rare. Vex weren't. Kevin ducked as the Minotaur went after him with its arm cannon. He moved in close, blasting its shields out with a shotgun blast and crumpling its frame with another. "Damnit!" Kevin saw energy gathering at a point in the ground. He rushed it, murdering more Vex in his way with precision Scout rifle fire.

"There," He heard Ikora Rey instruct him. "Clear your mind. Let the storm become aware of you."

Kevin walked into the middle of the pool of Arc energy. Immediately he felt pain and he let out a grunt.

"Calm yourself, Warlock. This is but one test."

The Warlock thought that was a load of shit but he tried anyway. Clearing his mind, the storm's fury flowed through him. Power. He could feel it course through his veins and he oddly felt...calm. Like the world made sense now.

"You've done well." Ikora spoke through the link. "Find another."

He repeated this three more times. And when the time came, when the storm reached the height of its fury, he called it down. He called down the thunder, the wind and the lightning. He channeled storm, harnessed it as his own. He rained down destruction on the Vex.

He returned home, enlightened. A Stormcaller. Kevin did not hesitate to use his newfound strength against the Darkness.

He had become the Arc. He had become the Storm.

/

Yang was gaping at him. Kevin shrugged. He had seen some of the same expressions on the newer Guardians but he was not going to say anything else. He looked at his hand as Arc energy sparked to life. "It wasn't easy learning how to control this power." He remarked.

"You go around calling thunder and lightning down on people. That is pretty awesome." Yang said smiling.

"No, it isn't." Kevin whispered. "I'm horrified of what I am capable of. What could a mere man do to stand against me, the storm?" He looked outside pensively at the snowstorm outside. "I don't use my powers flippantly Yang."

He smiled at her. "Unless I get annoyed."

Yang snorted. "What, you overcharge John's electric razor or something?"

"Nothing so petty." Kevin said. He smiled even wider. "I just overloaded the power in his quarters."

"Wait, you made his room lose power?" Yang laughed. "That is so mean!"

"Yep, he was stuck for a week taking showers in the dark." Kevin answered. "That jerk cleared out my fridge while I was out on patrol."

"He cleared out your fridge." Yang chuckled. "I can't believe I'm hearing this."

"He claimed he was hungry." Kevin said blandly.

Yang giggled. "What other stories have you got for me?"

Kevin thought about it. "First off let's get something to eat, I got quite a few..."

Yang could agree to that. She followed him over to where the kitchens were. Unknown to them John was smirking as he kept out of sight. The Sunsinger walked off as he checked his Scroll for any communiqués from the Commander.

He stopped, eyes narrowed, as he read the latest message. He sighed. Great. If he was correct, the new member sent out to help was going to be quite troublesome. She _did_ try to kill Yang Xiao Long after all.

John read the name. Neopolitan. A known associate of Roman Torchwick who was now 'employed' by Edgar Gein. He honestly did not want anything to do with the master criminal. Why Roman was not dead yet, he didn't know.

He just prayed that no one did anything rash when Neopolitan arrived. John had to resist the temptation of rubbing his temples.

/

It was just as well that they got ambushed on the way to the gas station.

Ivan blinked as he realized that he had been kicked into a nearby store. The Warlock sat up to see Ruby clashing with an unfamiliar warrior, a diminutive young woman with an umbrella. Ivan looked around, eyes narrowing underneath his helmet.

Amelia was checking him over. "Sir Ivan, your vitals are fluctuating."

Ivan realized that he had been stabbed in the chest. "Patch it up." He said coldly.

"Sir Ivan."

"I said. Patch. It. Up." He repeated his order. "And give me my sword."

The Warlock felt the dull ache in his chest fade. He threw off the debris around his form and opened his hand as his sword appeared in a flash of light. The Dreadfang was made from the essence of slain Taken beasts. Ivan hefted the blade and took off, charging silently into the fray.

As Ruby got kicked backwards by the mad parasol wearing young woman, Ivan had slammed into her opponent.

Neopolitan looked into the faceplate of Ivan's Spektar Hood with a grin that slowly vanished as Ivan raised his sword and swung down at her once more. The sword's outline wavered and Neopolitan made the wise decision to get out of its way.

The Dreadfang melted through the snow as Ivan stared at his target. Neopolitan twirled her parasol and gave a mocking bow. Ivan raised his sword and held it in a one handed grip. And then suddenly drew his sidearm, Dreg's Promise. A highly modified and deadly Shock Pistol, it was Ivan's favored sidearm.

He took aim, which caused the smile on the woman's face to melt off. Ivan let loose with a three round burst of high energy shock rounds.

/

Neo knew she wasn't going to be able to block that. She moved quickly, and looked behind her. Those rounds had punched through the truck like it was balsa wood. She quickly sidestepped out of the way as another burst of rounds whizzed by her head. She quickly moved into cover...

/

Ivan loaded a fresh power cell into his pistol as he walked slowly towards Ruby.

"Ow..." The girl held her head.

"Good to see that you're fine." Ivan quipped. "Now, considering that you just took a roundhouse kick to the head-"

 _Chime._

Ivan, irritated, fished out his Scroll.

 _"You didn't have shoot at me you know."_

"The hell?" Ivan checked the number, scowling. He called out. "How did you know who we are?"

 _Chime._

 _"Easy, your boss sent me to help."_

Ivan scratched his head as the girl with the parasol stepped into view. She had her hands raised as Ivan mag-locked his sword to his back. and holstered Dreg's Promise. He then helped Ruby out, who looked suitably furious.

"Your name, friend?" Ivan asked. His tone grew cold at the word 'friend.'

 _Chime._

 _"Neopolitan. At your service."_

/

 _City of Vale Post Office..._

It wasn't the first time Kevin had drawn on someone, but what made this mildly uncomfortable was the fact that it was Yang he had drawn his weapon on. It wasn't that she was being unreasonable. She had every right to be angry.

It's just that she was making a really bad decision to take it out on John, who didn't need protecting. Yang was a good fighter but if John had been pressed or serious things would have ended badly.

"They send that bitch out to help?" Yang snarled at John. "She triedto _kill me and Ruby_!"

"Orders are orders." John said quietly, weathering Yang's wrath patiently. Kevin wasn't fooled. John was getting annoyed. "She's the commander's errand girl, and Roman's supplying us information in exchange for his miserable life."

"He's a criminal!" Yang argued. "And she's crazy!"

"And I suppose you'd know where we can keep Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan jailed?" John retorted. "Cells aren't cheap anymore. There are no prisons. We need all the help we can get."

"Even if it's that bastard?" Yang spat. "Ruby is out there with a psychopath, how can you be sure she'll make it back!?"

John exhaled quietly through his nose. "One of the Guardians under my command is there. He knows the stakes." He told Yang sternly. "So do we all. And _so do you._ "

Yang stepped forward glaring at John when Kevin stepped in between them. "Get out of my way Kevin." She told him.

"No." Kevin said, his handgun in his hand. "Yang, John both of you need to keep your tempers in check."

Yang growled as her eyes blazed red. In response Kevin could feel John's light start simmering. It was just under the surface but John was getting ready in case Yang started something.

Much to his surprise, Yang looked down muttered an apology and left the room. Kevin turned to John who sighed.

"Well, that was expected." John said with a bitter laugh. "At least Goodwitch didn't try and throw a punch."

"Yeah." Kevin spoke after a pause. "But seriously, Torchwick? That Neopolitan chick?"

"It was Gein's orders. Not mine." John said looking tired. "You think I'd let her work alone with Ruby? I already told Ivan to waste Neopolitan if she crosses us."

Kevin didn't look convinced but he took it in stride. "I don't agree with this completely brother, but I'll follow your lead on this."

John rubbed his forehead. "Yeah," He said. "Thanks. Tell Yang I'm sorry yeah?"

"I'll talk to her." Kevin swept out of the room as John leaned back against his chair with another tired sigh.

Hestia had been watching from the side. "You handled that well."

John shook his head. "It's not like I wanted anything to do with Torchwick and his crony..." He said. "I can't even imagine what's going through Old Man Gein's head sometimes."

Somewhere on the Island of Patch, Edgar Gein sneezed into his coffee which promptly sent Keina into a fit of giggles.

The Titan walked over and put her hands on the chair's armrests, leaning closer to John's face. "We do what we need to." She whispered, kissing him on the forehead. "You know that right?"

"Yeah, I suppose." John muttered. He pushed forward kissing Hestia. "Sorry, I haven't been spending most of my time with you haven't I?"

"It's work." Hestia shrugged. She kissed him back. "We'll get time, don't worry."

John worried anyway.

/

"Yang." Kevin said as he followed the irate blonde through the empty hall. "Could you slow down?"

Yang ignored him and stalked off outside. It would have been quite funny, with her aura making snow melt, she looked like she was being powered by steam. Kevin put the thought out of his head. "Yang, could you please slow down?" He asked, louder this time.

"What!?" Yang turned around. "What do you want this time?"

"Are you okay?" Kevin asked simply.

Yang flinched as Kevin put a hand on her shoulder. "I get it. You're pissed." He said. "You do realize you can talk to me right?"

The blonde looked down, scowling. "I hate all of this." She told him. "You'd think we'd be out there fighting bad guys straight up right? Now Vale is burnt to the ground because we didn't see it coming. We should have been able to stop this from happening!"

"We should have. In hindsight. But we didn't, we tried to mitigate the damage as best we could." Kevin reassured her calmly.

"People died." Yang looked distraught. "And we could have lost Pyrrha, Ruby...Blake."

"There will always be loss." Kevin murmured. "If anything, that is always a constant in this universe."

"Uh...Guys?"

Kevin and Yang turned to regard Nils who had been checking on them. "Briefing's in thirty minutes. Ivan made contact." He told them.

"Right, thanks." Kevin said. He looked at Yang. "You're strong and brave Yang, we'll get through this."

Yang certainly felt a bit better after that. She gave Kevin a smile. The Warlock nodded, and left for the briefing with her in tow.

/

 _Much Truck Gasoline Station, City of Vale Dead Zone._

Ivan's Scroll chimed again. He read the message from Neopolitan out loud. "How long is this going to take?"

Ivan sighed as he typed back the same answer he had given the young woman twenty minutes ago. It was going to take an hour for the truck to fill up. He tapped the read out, swearing obscenely in Old Earth Russian. The Warlock looked around. Ruby and Neopolitan were patrolling the area in case the Grimm came out to play.

The Warlock noted that they hated each other. Ruby and Yang had fought against the ice cream themed young woman before. Ivan had already been briefed on the situation, a rather unlucky turn of events but backup was backup. Even if they were basically mercs for right now, Torchwick had decided to work for the Commander in exchange for his life.

Ivan rightly assumed that Neopolitan had been given the same offer. The Warlock was not blessed with foresight, but they would probably have their own role to play for good or ill. The Voidwalker sucked it up and continued manning the gas pump. Thank the Traveler that Amelia was on station. Ivan wasn't much of a mechanic or engineer, he'd have messed this up a long time ago.

 _Chime._

Ivan picked up his Scroll.

 _You guys are mean you know? I'm just trying to help._ There was a pouty face emote at the end of the message. Ivan ignored it.

 _Chime._

 _Come on, I'm sorry little red. I'm sorry I tried to stab your sister in the mouth. Gosh...she's so annoying though._

 _Chime._

 _You say one more word about Yang I'm going to come over there and-_

Ivan snapped at that point. He opened a channel to the both of them and verbally reprimanded them.

"Shut up and keep an eye out for Grimm! I have no patience for this shit, if either of you cannot cooperate I am going to fill up this truck and I am going to let you idiots walk back to the fucking Post office!"

Ivan closed the channel and cradled his rifle in his lap. "Sir Ivan, is everything alright?" Amelia asked floating over.

" _Dah._ " Ivan waved a hand irritably. "How is everything going?"

"The truck will be filled in approximately thirty minutes." Amelia announced.

 _Wonderful._ Ivan thought to himself irritably letting out another muttered curse as he kept an eye on the readout. If Ruby and Neopolitan wanted to kill each other that was fine with him. He looked outside. It was just about morning. Him and Ruby were running on about three hours of sleep.

It was probably going to be a long day.

/

 _Island of Patch, Old Ruther Hamlet, a few miles away from the Docks..._

Jaune Arc ducked behind his shield as he kept moving, feeling the bullets ping off Crocea Mors. He held up his newly acquired Hand Cannon and opened fire. He was getting quite acquainted with the Judith-D thanks to Kelly's help.

The Hunter had said he was a decent shot and wondered why he took up the sword instead. Jaune had been using Crocea Mors longer, seeing as he did get into Beacon with it. He was getting better but unlike Pyrrha, she had said, he lacked any options for longer ranged engagements.

Hence why all of JNPR were 'packing heat' as Levi coined it. Each and every one of them were carrying newly forged weapons from the Guardian's Armory. They didn't have a transformed state, but they more than made up for it with superior firepower. Jaune knew his Hand Cannon could put quite a lot of strain on someone's Aura. Seriously, these things were deadly.

Jaune took aim again, his shots perforating the gangster's aura and he ducked behind a tree. Blazing away with a submachine gun, Jaune was forced back into cover. The blonde exhaled and touched the communication bead. "Uh, Pyrrha? A little help here?"

 _"I've got you Jaune!"_

Jaune heard a yell of pain as Pyrrha Nikos slammed into the gangster, promptly knocking his Aura down. There was a ear shattering burst of machine gun fire as Levi's Machine Gun went off. _"Arc! Regroup! We're moving on the Hamlet now!"_ The Warlock ordered.

"On my way sir!" Jaune answered. "Pyrrha, let's go!"

The red haired fighter nodded as she bound up the prisoner and marked his location on her Scroll. She then hefted her shield and spear, following Jaune as he made a beeline for Levi's location. The Warlock had finished loading his weapon before switching it out for his Scout Rifle, the Saterienne Rapier.

"Come on you two," Levi said. "We're raiding Ruther Hamlet so shape up, this is just your second day under fire."

Jaune gulped nervously. Again, combat against human foes was way different than facing Grimm. Especially since they were actively trying to kill him. At least the Grimm weren't sentient. Watching a human or Faunus die was a harrowing experience. But times had changed. The Kingdom of Vale was in ruins and they had to do some terrible things to keep what was left from sharing that same fate.

Jaune was shaken out of his thoughts by a series of loud explosions.

"Christ, Karl..." Levi muttered. "Way to start the party."

"Actually, I think that was Nora." Levi's Ghost, Ringlet, spoke up.

"She's...hyperactive." Pyrrha sounded embarrassed.

"Hey, Karl likes his explosions." Levi said shrugging. "Come on, let's see if the guys are okay."

The trio moved a few meters on into the woods, following Ringlet's NAV point set up on Levi's HUD. They didn't speak too much, Jaune had been taught that a battlefield was no place for a nice chit chat. He looked over at Pyrrha who gave him a reassuring nod.

She was adjusting to this better than he was. Karl wasn't worried about that though, the Titan had said that Jaune would get into shape in time. Karl was a hard teacher, but he was fair and knew what he was doing. In comparison Levi was more laidback and idle, but he was quick thinking and seemed to have the ability to point out mistakes that Jaune wouldn't have noticed by himself. Kelly balanced out the both of them with her black humor and pragmatic thinking.

Jaune wasn't used to such thinking. He wasn't used to ambushing foes and striking quickly before the enemy could counter attack or organize. Combat wasn't all about face to face, sometimes you just had to throw away all pretense of honor to achieve victory. Did he enjoy it? No. But he was starting to get just why the Guardians fought the way they did.

Facing extinction had a sobering effect on someone.

Levi whistled as they arrived at the RV point. "Well, I'll be damned...Isn't that guy on the Commander's Shit List?" He asked.

Jaune and Pyrrha recognized the familiar bowler hat and cane that Roman Torchwick carried around. What they didn't like as the fact that he was staring up at Karl's helmet and talking to him.

"What's going on?" Pyrrha asked.

Karl noticed and glared at Roman Torchwick to shut his mouth. "Ah, perfect. The gang's all here." Roman quipped and shrank when the Titan looked his way.

"I suppose you recognize our new chum here, Jaune?" Karl asked.

"...I thought he was in a hospital." Jaune spoke looking at Torchwick with confusion and scorn.

"Well, he was." Kelly spoke up. "He was offered some...'employment' by Commander Gein. He gives us any info on White Fang activity he gets to avoid the firing squad. My, how generous." Her tone was cheery but the uncomfortable look on Roman's face said otherwise.

Pyrrha frowned. "And you're sure he won't turn on us?"

"He won't." A new voice spoke up. "Because _I'm_ going to be your handler today!"

Keina Duvall stepped out in full gear, the nightmarish purple glow of her Graviton Forfeit helmet would have made a mortal step back in fear. Keina was every bit as intimidating as Edgar, her cheerful sociable personality making her even more terrifying.

"Shit..." Roman muttered.

Keina gave a cheery wave before turning to Karl. "The situation, Grendel-One."

Karl made good on his debrief. They got info from the Patch Police Department that Shark teeth gang members were hauling supplies through several hamlets in the area. The only reason they weren't being investigated was because of the Vale Crisis. Karl had volunteered JNPR and Fireteam Grendel for the cause.

Keina had already known that Edgar had sent Roman Torchwick with Karl's group as an 'advisor', hence why she was going to be their handler today. No she did not care if she made everyone mildly uncomfortable. No, she was not here purely for the fun of it. She smiled underneath her helmet as Karl finished his report.

"Thank you, now let's go into this Hamlet shall we?" Keina asked.

"Ma'am, it could be an ambush." Karl suggested.

"Oh it could." Keina agreed. "But in order to know, we need to spring the trap right?" She smiled as JNPR regarded her with some apprehension. "We need to draw them out."

"Bait and switch right?" Levi said cheerful. "Awesome. I'm in."

"Dang it, Lev." Kelly muttered. "All right, me and Lev will be the rabbits. We'll draw out the gangsters. You guys wait here so we can give them what for."

"Excellent." Keina clapped her hands and turned to the rest. "Everyone please load your weapons, it would be no good for us to make our hosts wait."

"Oh, joy." Roman snarked. "We're all going to die aren't we?"

"Now that's just rude." Keina's cheerful tone soured and that caused the criminal to shut his mouth immediately. "Now, according to your interview you worked with the Shark Teeth prior to the White Fang. What can you tell me about their armaments Mister Torchwick?"

"SMGs mostly." Roman shrugged. "Their head honcho, Krystal, owes me a bunch of Lien for the Dust I gave her a few years back. Dumb broad doesn't even know how screwed she is."

"I suppose we can use that against her?" Keina asked again.

"Maybe, heck I dunno. She...likes the hard stuff you know? So she might be a bit knocked off her rocker."

Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other.

"Get into position ladies and gentlemen." Keina said after going over the information. "We have a lot of things to do." She looked at Levi and Kelly. "Go."

/

Jaune hid behind a house, following Karl as they moved into the hamlet at Levi's signal. It was just a few seconds and already they were being shot at. An SMG opened up from a corner. The rounds sparked against Karl's armor. The Titan turned, pinpointing the shooters position and opened fire.

A Shark Tooth went down screaming, Karl shot him again, perforating his cheap hoodie with Auto Rifle rounds. "Jaune, move!"

Pyrrha ushered him forward, Milo in her hands in its rifle form. In unison Pyrrha and Jaune suppressed a group of more Shark Tooth gangers allowing Karl to get rid of them with a grenade. They followed the Titan into the Hamlet.

They heard Nora laughing and an explosion ripped a house open as she smashed Magnhild into a gang member sending him flying. Assuming his Aura held, he was probably in a coma. Beside her, Ren was firing his twin pistols.

The Shark Teeth were pulling back into the center of the hamlet, led by Keina and Karl the group of students and Guardians, plus one criminal mastermind, pushed their opponents into a dead end.

/

"I don't know anything, you crazy bitch!"

Jaune winced as Keina reared back her hand and slapped the poor guy in the face. "I think you do, and please do watch the language." Keina's cheery voice turned quietly dangerous. "Or I will cut off your lower jaw."

"Okay, time to go, kids." Levi led Jaune's team out of the house. "Miss Duvall has work to do."

"What...What is going to happen?" Pyrrha asked.

"Interrogation." Karl said. "She's good at it." He turned to Levi. "You and Roman should sweep the village with Jaune's team. Kelly and I have the grounds here."

"I-Interrogate?" Jaune stammered.

"He may have information. Or he may not." Karl spoke, his tone brokering no argument. "Either way, this Shark Teeth problem needs to get solved fast. Otherwise we're gonna be fighting on three fronts. Grimm, White Fang, and these assholes."

The Titan looked down at Jaune. "I need you to do your job now, Team leader."

Jaune swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.

"Come on, you two. March."

As Jaune and Pyrrha followed Levi onto their route, Jane had to wonder how far he'd have to go. He hoped Ruby was doing okay.


	3. Chapter 3

3

Rolling Thunder/ Blades/Crossing bridges

 **Destiny=Bungie**

 **RWBY=Rooster Teeth**

/

 _GRIMOIRE UNLOCKED: A Deal_

 _"Great. You came back to finish the job right?" Torchwick scowled as he saw Edgar Gein enter his hospital ward, much to the displeasure of the nurse. But to argue with a man like Gein was never wise._

 _The Voidwalker merely pulled up a chair as his tall, scarily lethal friend in armor stood to the side and pointedly looked at the nurse to make her leave. Edgar nodded at Loki and the Titan closed the door._

 _"I could." Edgar said quietly. "I could just shoot you in the head and be done with it, but I believe that some people have their uses." The Warlock shrugged. "I have a proposition for you Mister Torchwick."_

 _Roman scowled. "How so?"_

 _"Simple. You work for me. You act as an...advisor on the matter of the White Fang." Edgar leaned back in his chair. "Do this and I may attempt to persuade the proper authorities to lessen your sentence and offer you and your little partner...protection from retaliation."_

 _Roman laughed. "So you want a disposable lapdog is that it?" He said. "You think you scare me buddy?"_

 _"I don't." Edgar smiled pointedly his stormy grey eyes glowing with humor. "I can sense your fear." He leaned forward in his chair. "Of course, you could recover and make your escape. And assuming you did so, what makes you think you can escape my Guardians? Or the bullet with your name on it?" The Warlock smiled as Roman scowled._

 _"You realize my boss is scarier than you are." Roman said._

 _"I will kill her anyway." Edgar replied. "Or another Guardian will. It doesn't matter." Edgar smiled knowing that Roman Torchwick didn't have a lot of options right now._

 _"Fine. I guess you won't pay me for this right?" Roman said, annoyed._

 _"I am paying you with the continuation of your pathetic life, Mister Torchwick." Edgar stood up with a serene expression on his face. "I sincerely hope that you are wise enough to know what it means to cross me."_

 **/**

"Grimm!"

Kevin Holden saw them coming, a pack of Beowolves and raised his weapon. He fired a four round burst from his Lyudmila-D taking out the Pack leader. He heard Xia and Ivan open up at the same time and soon there were dead Grimm in the streets. That was going to change in the next couple of hours as gunfire and reports of Grimm incursion rose up from the impromptu teams in the bus lots.

It was already about noon. Fireteams Jackknife and Emeici had departed from the Post Office Refugee Camp alongside CFVY and CRDL in order to prep the buses for departure. They needed three in total to be working.

Kevin kept an eye out on the perimeter, keeping his rifle in hand. It had stopped snowing at least. Yang and Nils were clearing out a path with good old fashioned superhuman strength and an abandoned snow mobile they found a few ways back. John told them to do the best they could while the buses were prepped. It was going to be slow going otherwise and Grimm weren't patient.

That was fine. Superior firepower and patience were often enough to get a man or woman by when things got hairy.

 _"Kevin?"_

The Stormcaller stopped and let Sparky open the channel. "Yeah, Ruby?"

 _"You okay?"_

Kevin looked around. "I'm doing just fine. What about you? You see anything on your end?"

 _"No. Just those stragglers you took out."_

Kevin nodded, knowing she could probably see him and was watching his back. Ruby was cool like that. He sighed, shouldering his rifle and hunted for targets. He heard a loud roar, characteristic of a heavy weapon.

 _"Shit, shit. Guys. Really big pack of Beowolves over here. They saw me and Yatsuhashi. Can I get some covering fire?"_ Coco Adel spoke over the line.

 _"Then the party's started."_ John commented. _"Winchester, how close are you?"_

 _"Uh, me and Sky can get there in a few..."_ Cardin answered.

 _"Good, reinforce Coco and do what you can."_ John didn't miss a beat. _"Ruby, you can cover them from there right?"_

 _"Yup!"_

Kevin kept silent as he turned left to finish up his patrol. That surprised him. CRDL was working with CFVY. Ever since Coco had caught word of Cardin trying to bully Velvet, she had made it quite clear that boundaries would be set or there'd be problems. Cardin, who had not lost much of his former arrogance, still tried to start shit.

/

 _A few hours before..._

"What is going on in here!?"

Coco Adel unclenched her fist as she turned to find that John Holden had entered the scene, his blue eyes stormy. His brother, Kevin, was also there and he didn't seem too happy either.

Cardin sneered. "Oh look, another Faunus lover."

John was on him within seconds. The boy stepped back as John stomped towards him furiously. "I hear another word out of you and you'll be shitting teeth for the rest of the winter." His tone brokered no arguments. "Now what the hell is going on here?"

"That little shit was pulling on Velvet's ears." Coco pointed at Cardin.

Behind Fox, Velvet cowered as John exhaled through his nose. His expression turned coldly furious. Coco actually hesitated. She knew Kevin Holden by reputation and the guy was a stone cold fish, but he was sociable. In comparison John Holden was happy-go-lucky, with a nice smile that could brighten anyone's day.

She now realized that when his temper was up, John could probably set the Devil himself on fire.

"I was just..." Cardin said defiantly before deflating as John's gaze turned on him. "Having...fun..."

"This stops now." John said calmly. "Because of your childishness, we have wasted time used to start the briefing." The Warlock raised a hand as Coco and Cardin started to speak up. "We have no time for arguing who started what!" He snapped. "Now you will listen to me: We go out there, you follow my orders to the letter because it's not just your ass on the line it's everyone else's."

He turned around and briskly walked away. "Anyone who doesn't want to fall in line can just get out of the way."

Coco looked at Kevin who crossed his arms. "Don't look at me, he's right." He said. "Are you guys good?"

Coco gave Cardin a withering look. "Yeah I'm good. Don't know about him."

"Cardin?" Kevin asked quietly, his piercing gaze landing on the boy.

"Uh...Yeah, Yes sir." Cardin muttered afraid of what would happen now.

Kevin nodded, looking satisfied. "Let's go to briefing then."

/

 _Presently..._

Kevin put his hand up to his helmet. "John, me and Sparky are clear. I'm moving back to the RV point."

 _"Solid copy. Hestia's armored up the buses with Dove, Fox and Russel."_ John replied. Kevin could hear the grin in his voice. _"Man I cannot wait to test out the bulldozers on those beasts."_

"Yeah, we get it." Sparky snarked. "You like building engines of destruction. You'd probably put a battering ram on a kid's tricycle, you psychopath."

John laughed. _"Remember the Festival of the Lost, where we decided to joust with our Sparrows when we were all drunk?"_

"Don't remind me." Kevin shuddered. "I'm starting to get flashbacks." He heard John laughing again and rolled his eyes underneath his helmet. The Stormcaller walked inside the garage where he nearly bumped into Dove and Russel carrying off a large section of scrap metal. Inside, Hestia was busy welding the last bits onto the third bus with Fox's help. John was supervising preparations with Glynda Goodwitch and Police Captain Sebastian Rojas, leader of the VPD elements.

"We open up this route and we can basically use the Post Office as a Forward Outpost." John said tracing the route from the Post Office back towards the Vale Docks. "Get some engineers in there and we can fortify that position against the Grimm."

"In addition to getting the refugees out, that sounds like a good idea." Rojas rubbed his beard. "You Guardians are resourceful."

"Waste not, want not." John commented. He looked up to see Kevin setting his rifle against the crate and removing his helmet.

"Just taking a breather." Kevin muttered as John approached.

"Hey, relax. We got this in the bag." John said. "It'd be nice if things actually go as planned."

"You know how it goes," Kevin remarked. "No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

John chuckled. He then looked seriously at Kevin. "We've gotten word that the White Fang are fortifying the Vale Capitol Building." He told his brother. "Edgar wants us to finish this business up first before he briefs us for that mission."

"...Any sign of Blake?" Kevin asked, knowing that Yang would demand to know if Blake was located there when she found out.

"Scuttlebutt says that Adam Taurus was spotted over there." John said quietly. "We'll know for sure when recon gets back."

"I wonder who pulled that duty." Kevin muttered.

"Bloodhound and Wallachia." John said, ticking off his fingers. "That's Lance and...I think Tybalt Marsh?"

Kevin nodded. "Let's get to it."

With the fuel supply recently liberated by Ivan, Ruby and Neopolitan they had enough to reach the Post Office and the docks in two stops. The plan was to head straight for the docks at a steady pace, clearing out whatever wreckage or Grimm was in the way. The Guardians were going to act as mobile response units thanks to their Sparrows. The Grimm were going to make the journey hard but John had considered every possibility on the road.

He won't fail. He couldn't afford to.

/

John exhaled as he sat on his Sparrow. "All callsigns this is Jackknife One, report in."

 _"This is Thunder One, spooling up engines now."_ The First bus called in.

 _"Thunder Two, ready."_ Second Bus.

 _"Thunder Three, at your command."_ Third Bus.

 _"Team CRDL, on Thunder Three."_ Cardin Winchester reported in.

 _"Team CFVY, ready to kick ass and take names on Thunder Two."_ Coco Adel crowed over the radio.

 _"Team RWBY, here on Thunder One."_ Ruby Rose spoke over the COMs.

 _"Fireteam Emeici here. We're ready."_ Xia Zhang spoke coldly.

 _"Fireteam Jackknife is solid, John. We're ready to roll."_ Kevin answered the hail.

"Understood." John exhaled. "Thunder, let's roll!"

/

They hit the first marked checkpoint.

Ivan looked back, seeing it was his turn on point. Swinging off his Sparrow, Ivan blinked his eyes to bring up a map on his HUD. Excellent, they were right on track. If they kept up this pace they could make it to the Docks in record time. During more peaceful days it would have taken three hours on the highway. With ruined cars being pushed out of the way, often times Nils or Hestia had to put their strength into it, the trip was going to take more time. With Grimm around, it would take even longer.

The Warlock chambered a round into his rifle. _"Emeici-Three to all Guardians, I have hostile contact heading this way. I repeat, Boarbatusk pack is heading my way."_

 _"I copy, Ivan."_ John said. _"Need any help?"_

"No need, it's just five plus the mother." Ivan said. He sighted up with his Hung Jury Scout Rifle. He switched to Explosive Rounds due to the Boarbatusks being in a clustered group.

 _Chime._

"Goddamnit, what does Neopolitan want now?" Ivan muttered.

"Sir Ivan, the convoy is under attack by Grimm."

"Fuck!"

/

"All units, this is Jackknife-One!" John swore under his breath. "Prepare to repel Grimm!"

He could already hear the screaming and gunfire from the VPD officers doing their damndest to hold off the Grimm. He heard Kevin calmly report his position. He was one of the first already there, linking up with Thunder One and Ruby. Grimm were pouring out from every hole and the convoy was embattled.

John turned to Hestia. "Come on, let's get over there!" He shouted.

Hestia nodded, spooling up the engines on her Sparrow.

First checkpoint and already they were in the shit. John kept an eye on his HUD as the display rapidly marked down the meters to his objective.

"Ivan and Xia are already on their way to Thunder Two. Thunder Three is holding but CRDL is having trouble fending off Grimm." Jingles reported. "Nils is on his way to support them."

"Send out Velvet and Fox from Thunder Two." John didn't hesitate, his mind racing. "And pulse out a signal that we might need help to the Commander, on the double."

"Understood. Martellus, mind triangulating with me?"

 _"Sure thing."_

John stopped as he saw the Grimm advancing towards the bus which had slowed to a stop. It was Thunder One. "Hes! Cover me!" John hefted his rifle in his arms and sprinted towards the first Grimm he locked onto, shredding its body with gunfire.

Hearing Hestia open up with her machine gun made him grin. The Sunsinger moved in, counter charging into a pack of Beowolves clawing at the bus's armored side even as VPD officers inside fired their shotguns at the rest of the furry bastards. He saw Ruby land on the roof, beheading one of the creature with a swipe of her scythe.

Yang was right beside her, rifle slung. She was sending blasts into a pair of Ursa with her gauntlets. Kevin swept his sword down, a beam of Arc energy lancing an unlucky Ursa. Untold voltages of Arc energy swept through its body until it eventually just vaporized. Whirling his sword, Kevin advanced menacingly on a lone Beowolf, cutting its head off with a horizontal strike.

John shouldered his weapon and fired at the next one. Kevin waved his hand in gratitude. John replied with a wave of his own and continued his advance with Hestia, mowing down Grimm after Grimm with the Red Spectre.

/

 _Patch Docks, Fireteam Grendel and Team JNPR..._

"Let's move! Let's move!"

Jaune Arc quickly followed Karl and the rest of Fireteam Grendel as the Bullhead pilots and crews spooled up their engines. He was up into the crew compartment first as the Titan waved in the rest. Their investigation into the dealings of the Shark Teeth Gang were put on hold, they had a new mission: Support Fireteam Jackknife and Professor Goodwitch in escorting refugees back into friendly territory.

Jaune looked down to the Hand Cannon strapped to his side and gulped. Pyrrha touched his arm, smiling as she readied Milo in her grip. A shotgun was slung over her shoulder, a Conspiracy Theory-D if he remembered. Nora had the same thing and she was giggling madly as she loaded shells into the new weapon.

Ren was busy fixing the sights on his new Cocytus SR-4. He looked at Jaune and nodded. The blonde nodded back and drew his weapon, checking the cylinder.

"Our mission's simple." Karl announced, making Jaune pay attention. "We're going into the Vale Dead Zone. Believe it or not, ladies and gents, we have a convoy of survivors stuck out there with Fireteam Jackknife. They're being swarmed by Grimm so I need everyone loaded up for a big fight. We do this by the book and fuck-up free!"

"He said a bad word." Nora whispered into Ren's ears. Ren just sighed and told Nora to listen.

"Nora, you're our heavy hitter. As soon as we hit the dirt, I want that grenade launcher punching holes into whatever concentration of Grimm you see."

"Got it!" Nora snapped off a salute.

"Pyrrha, Jaune you're giving her support. Ren, Kelly I want you both giving us eyes in the sky."

"Roger Dodger." Kelly said, cradling her Omolon Uzume sniper rifle.

"Yes sir." Ren spoke quietly.

"Levi, you're with me." Karl pointed at the Warlock. "We'll be pushing this with Fireteam Furor."

"Solid copy, Grendel One." Levi answered.

Sure enough, Jaune heard the whine of the Bullhead's engines spooling up. He looked to see the other VTOL aircraft taking off, filled with Dead Orbit Marine squads augmented by VPD Riot troops alongside Patch's own security forces. As one the Bullheads took to the skies, heading straight for the Vale DZ.

Someone had fired up the speakers and was playing music, the lyrics sounded unfamiliar to Jaune but Karl and Kelly turned to look at Levi who shrugged. "What? Rolling Stones don't agree with you?" He asked. "Figured Sympathy for the Devil would have been nice."

"Ride of the Valkyries would have worked so much better..." Kelly murmured.

"Oh, please..." Her Ghost, Raspberry snarked. "That is so cliché..."

"It's a classic!" Kelly complained.

"...What's wrong with the Rolling Stones?" Levi asked his Ghost Ringlet.

"Nothing, really." Ringlet said. "Raspberry and Kelly just like to complain."

"Knock it off, please?" Meteor asked both Ghosts and Guardians. "We get enough of this crap back on Earth."

Karl grumbled and palmed the faceplate of his helmet. Jaune wanted to ask if he was alright but noted Karl's Ghost, Meteor, rolling his photoreceptor and telling the boy it was best not to get involved.

"It really is a bad idea to ask." Meteor reiterated. "They do this every time Levi finds new music."

"Uh..." Jaune looked at Pyrrha who shrugged. "Okay. I won't ask."

All the while Levi Dillinger started singing along with Mick Jagger as Karl muttered obscenities underneath his helmet.

A Bullhead pulled up beside them. A female Warlock was standing in the crew area. She gave Karl a wave that the Titan returned. Fireteams Furor and Grendel were heading out with JNPR. Jaune didn't know who the other Warlock was.

"That's Furor's team leader, Rainelle." Karl told Jaune when he asked. "She's tough as nails that one."

"You wouldn't want to go up against that harpy." Levi said. "She doesn't have a nice bone in her body... especially that sweet, sweet-"

"Oh shut up please!" Kelly scoffed. "Keep it in your pants, Lev!"

Pyrrha giggled as beside her Jaune gave a nervous smile.

"ETA is twenty minutes!" The pilot announced.

/

The convoy of buses continued on, despite constant attack from the Grimm. It was a slow going venture but Kevin could see that if they didn't get any support fast, they weren't going to make it to the second checkpoint let alone into the Vale docks.

Kevin loaded a fresh magazine into his Lyudmila-D and then he fired on another Ursa, peppering its torso with four round bursts. The Stormcaller kept firing, even as the creature toppled forward a large hole punched into its skull. Ruby cycled the action on Crescent Rose as she kept up the fire. In unison, she and Kevin managed to put down several more Grimm.

"Move back to the bus!" Kevin called to Yang who was currently beating a Beowolf's head in with her fists. Yang complied then slammed the back of her fist into another Beowolf, shattering the thing's ribcage. She smirked as her prosthetic arm whirred briefly. She had to admit that it could take and deal out a lot of punishment.

She heard Kevin's rifle go off once more.

 _"Damnit, Jackknife One this is Thunder Three. The check engine light just came on! The controls are getting a little jittery."_ The driver of Thunder Three sounded pissed and scared over the COMs.

 _"I hear you, Thunder Three. Nils, can you check on it? I'm sending a team your way."_ John replied smoothly.

 _"I'm on my way, Ifrit. Thunder Three give me your location..."_

Kevin flashed John on the radio. "Need us to provide assist?"

 _"Nah, I'm sure Nils has got it."_ John answered. _"I-"_

 _"Oh, shit! Oh shit!"_

Kevin winced as interference sounded over the COMs. "Goddamnit."

 _"Uh...this is-this is Thunder Two! I need help! Fucking Deathstalkers!"_ There were screams over the net.

 _"Kevin, I need you up there now! All available response units, this is Jackknife One! Thunder Two needs immediate reinforcement. I want those Deathstalkers killed!"_

"Solid Copy, Jackknife One." Kevin replied evenly, waving his hand at Ruby and Yang. "We're on the move."

/

The Ursa roared in her face but she didn't care.

Neopolitan was seriously starting to regret agreeing to helping with this shit. Seriously, she was this close to leaving. She should have left...Assuming she could, because Edgar Gein had told her and Roman that if they had run all they would get in the end was a bullet with their names on it. The man was quite serious, and she shuddered as she remembered the cold grey eyes of the Commander as he leaned back in his chair and made that threat.

Beside him, Keina had smiled her little smile as her cold, crimson eyes glowed menacingly. Neo knew that if she made one mistake she'd be dead within a heartbeat.

It irked her to feel this way. She wished she could wipe the smile off of their faces, but knew that it would be a futile effort. The Warlock could have easily just reduced her head into an unpleasant stain on the wall with nothing but a glance. The Hunter in the meantime would have made sure to take her time inserting several sharp objects into her body.

She decided to...embrace her situation, after all Mister Ivan Searle was quite the fighter, as evidenced by him putting down the Ursa in her face with a series of shotgun blasts that tore it apart.

She was looking up at him as he fended off another Grimm with another blast of his shotgun. Neo winced at the sound then hissed in pain as she realized that her head injury was quite serious and moving made it worse.

She thanked whatever gods were out there for Aura.

Ivan checked her over, pumping the slide on his weapon. He shook his head as he saw the blood matting her hair. He held out his hand and his shotgun was replaced by motes of light. His sidearm was once again in it. Neo blinked in surprise as Ivan hauled her up, holding her by the waist. He aimed his pistol and fired a three round burst into an advancing Beowolf, perforating its hide with shock rounds.

"Fucking bad luck." Ivan muttered as he hauled Neopolitan along. "Xia, you near my location? Neopolitan's hit bad. She needs a medic."

Gunfire answered him. _"I copy, I'm on my way. Nils is busy with Thunder Three. John tells me we just have to hold long enough for reinforcements to get here."_ Xia answered after a long tearing burst of gunfire. _"Just keep moving will ya?"_

Ivan sent his assent and held on securely to Neopolitan. She was astonished actually that he'd come back for her. Judging from the way he acted, she was sure he would have left her for dead. She stumbled once but Ivan caught her without hesitating.

"Up you get, comrade. We have a ways to go." Ivan muttered.

Neopolitan gaped at him, both in delirious pain and shock. Why was he saving her?

"Stop looking at me like that." Ivan muttered. "We leave no one behind." He started walking. "Move your feet, I'd hate to have to drag you."

Well, at least he was being honest.

/

"ETA in thirty seconds."

Jaune could hear the gunfire as he stood with Pyrrha and Nora. Karl and Levi were at the ready. Kelly and Ren were clipping harnesses on. Kelly adjusted the scope on her rifle as Ren did the same.

"Remember, don't jerk the trigger." She was telling the quiet boy. "Keep the stock to your chin and focus. You're a damn good shot, don't disappoint me today Lie Ren."

"Yes ma'am." Ren said and turned to Nora who gave him a thumbs up. He replied with a smile.

"I'll be back Rennie. Don't you worry!" Nora told him.

"Twenty seconds." Another announcement. Jaune tensed his legs as he smacked his new helmet. Pyrrha touched his shoulder briefly.

"We'll get through this Jaune." Pyrrha said.

"ETA in Ten!"

Karl chambered a round into his rifle. "Stay in formation. We move fast and hit hard."

The Bullhead lowered itself down.

"Deploying ramp!"

Jaune followed Karl as the Titan suddenly jumped down, aiming at the first Grimm he saw. He opened fire with the Dealbreaker, the weapon spitting death at the enemy. Levi covered his Fireteam leader with the Saterienne Rapier, the scout rifle punching holes into a nearby Ursa. Nora fired a grenade into a group of Grimm as Pyrrha and Jaune covered her flanks, guns blazing.

Jaune grunted as he lowered his shield, smashing aside the Beowolf trying to claw his face off. Forcing it back, he raised his Judith-D and fired once, twice, three times into the beast's face. The Hand Cannon's powerful rounds punched into its skull with terrifying power. Panting Jaune forced the smoldering corpse out of his way and holstered his weapon, switching to his sword as Pyrrha did the same. Both of them sliced and chopped their way through a Beowolf pack. A loud squeal alerted Jaune. He watched as a Boarbatusk sailed over their heads and slammed into a Beowolf at terminal velocity.

Both creatures died with a sickening crunch.

Karl was beside them soon enough. "Huh. Looks like Munroe was right." He said softly. He turned his helmet towards Jaune. "You okay?"

"Uh...Yeah?" Jaune coughed embarrassed. "I totally had it under control."

There was a grunt coming from Karl's helmet but the Titan said nothing. "Come on." Karl spoke after a long pause. "We've got blade work here that needs doing."

Jaune tapped his new helmet again with the pommel of his sword. "Yeah, let's get to it."

Karl loaded a fresh magazine into his rifle.

"Kurova! On the left flank! Nora, Pyrrha right! Levi stay close to the center and give me some range!" Karl thrust his hand forward. "Move it people, we've got Grimm to kill."

"VPD is moving in!" Rainelle shouted back. "We're supporting their advance! Two of the buses need cover or they won't be repaired in time!"

"Advance!" Karl snapped. "Move or we lose momentum!"

The battle turned into complete pandemonium as the human reinforcements struck like men possessed. The Guardians formed up a wedge to get to the convoy of buses that John's troops were defending against the Grimm. The offensive was precise and covered by the VPD Bullheads the tide turned towards the humans and the reinforcements managed to link up with the beleaguered convoy.

It soon started moving again as required repairs were hastily made, formations remade and squads reinforced with new orders given out. The convoy continued its inexorable advance back to friendlier territory.

They were attacked three more times by the Grimm and with fire and blade, the Guardians pushed them back.

/

"Well now." Commander Edgar Gein looked at the after action report given to him by Keina as she strode over to sit on the left side of the desk. "It seems that congratulations are in order, Jackknife-One."

John bobbed his head tiredly, holding his helmet in the crook of his arm.

"Indeed." Ozpin commented from the side. "A total of more than seventy refugees rescued from the Dead Zone with hardly any casualties. A victory against the Grimm surely."

"We did our best, sir." John spoke. "And your teams held up pretty well too, Headmaster."

Ozpin let a small proud smile grace his features. "It is much unfortunate that Glynda cannot join us today."

The blonde professor was recuperating from the battle, seeing as she was singlehandedly holding off Grimm hordes from Thunder Two with Coco and Yatsuhashi, both of whom were also resting up at the infirmary.

"So what's next on our list then?" Karl asked, his heavily scarred visage in full view for all to see.

"Recon's supposed to be back in a few hours." Rainelle commented, the Awoken Warlock looked over at John with her glowing blue eyes. "You've fought Adam Taurus before haven't you?"

"Once was enough." John said blithely. "He's quite tough, almost gave me a run for my money."

The door opened and General Ironwood walked in. He gave John a curt nod, one the Sunsinger returned with a little salute. Rainelle and Karl kept their silence as Edgar put the papers down and stood up.

"Excellent. We are all here. I'm sure that everyone is now aware of current events. Professor Goodwitch and her refugees are safe. Now we must focus our attention towards the White Fang who are currently fortifying their positions in the Vale Capitol Building."

Ozpin looked seriously at Edgar as John asked. "What's our current info on the locale?"

"Heavy defenses, rumors that Adam Taurus is situated there alongside some refugees." Edgar said as Santiago projected a hologram of the Vale Capitol Building. "I won't lie, this will be quite a tough cookie to crack if the White Fang intend on using refugees as human shields. Any comments?"

Karl could see that the Capitol was built with formidable defenses in mind. "Lots of killing zones out in the courtyard." He muttered. "It's also good for close quarters too."

"The Capitol was built to withstand the creatures of Grimm." Ozpin explained. "And during the long wars, it was as heavily fortified against the other nations. Even Atlesian troops weren't able to breach most of its walls."

"Walls don't matter." Rainelle commented. "It's the men that count."

Ironwood nodded in agreement. "We also do not know how much forces the White Fang have in the building. It's even more complicated with refugees being held prisoner there."

John stroked his chin in thought. "We could raid it with Fireteams." He said. "Maybe at night?"

Edgar looked at the hologram thoughtfully. "True. We could do that." He answered. "The risk is getting surrounded and cut off." He looked around at the faces in his office. "I would suggest waiting until my reconnaissance teams comes back in."

"Bloodhound and Wallachia." John said, grinning. "Surly bastards but they'll get the job done. For a Titan, Tybalt sure knows how to sneak up on someone."

Karl laughed and Rainelle shrugged but there was a hint of a smile on her face. Edgar nodded his head.

"In the meantime, I believe this meeting is adjourned for now." Edgar smiled. "We still have much to do about our current situation. Refugees have to be sorted out. We also have an influx of VPD officers, which should help out with keeping order. Keina, how's our investigation with the Shark Teeth?"

"Still ongoing but Mister Torchwick was quite generous enough to supply me with one of their leaders' names. I believe Krystal was her name. I might have to speak to him again." Keina answered.

Edgar smiled inwardly. Roman loathed working with Keina, and he was quite sure she enjoyed making him uncomfortable. "Do so." He then turned to Karl. "You may continue with your duties regarding that matter, Whittaker. I apologize for suddenly putting you up on the front lines. Be sure your team gets some rest and requisition new weapons from the armory, Keina will appraise you with your next objectives."

Karl shrugged. "I go where I'm needed commander."

"Yeah, sorry about that too." John scratched his head laughing. "I was thinking I'd be back before lunch, really."

Karl harrumphed as Rainelle shook her head and smiled. All three Guardians took their leave, to recuperate or arm up for the next mission.

"Now then, I assume we still have business to take care of Headmaster? General?" Edgar asked the pair.

"Not as of right now." Ironwood spoke up. "But Qrow hasn't been around lately."

"It is harder to contact him considering the Cross Continental Transmit Tower has been...compromised." Ozpin said. "Wasn't he also near the Capitol Building?"

"Supposedly." Edgar answered. "The man is effective when working on his own. I let him have free reign."

Ozpin sighed. "Even if it will take him more than a few days to make contact?" He pointed out.

"Hopefully he will chance upon Bloodhound and Wallachia." Edgar told him. "And they will get the information we need."

/

Kevin had to admit. He was rather nervous having to cook in front of Taiyang Xiao Long. As he observed the fried rice he was making the older man smirked.

"So, you guys were out in the Dead Zone again." Taiyang said. "Heard it was real bad out there."

"Yes. It was." Kevin said as he turned the heat down, sampling his own cooking. Pretty damn good if he said so himself. He just hoped it was up to Taiyang's standards. Ruby and Yang had invited Kevin over for dinner, John and Hestia in the meantime were headed out on a night around the town with Xia and her teammates.

Fine with him. He wondered how the others were doing. Knowing John it probably involved drinks or something. He wasn't going to intrude on their time however and had merely wished them a good night.

Taiyang walked over and helped Kevin set up the dinner table after sampling a bit of rice. "I must say, Kevin." Taiyang said grinning. "You're talented."

"I'm not five star material." Kevin tried to look bland but had he been more expressive, he would have been smiling from ear to ear. "I just put something in the pan and make it work."

"Well, keep doing that and quite a lot of girls are going to come after you." Taiyang kept up his joking, much to Kevin's chagrin.

"I'll...keep that under advisement, sir."

The door opened. "We're home!" Ruby Rose announced. The two half sisters walked in quickly closing the door to keep out the cold.

"Ah, good. You guys got the drinks?" Taiyang asked.

"Yep!" Ruby said smiling.

"Whoa! That smells really good!" Yang commented looking over at the bowl of fried rice on the table. "You made that, Kev?"

Kevin only nodded. "Let's eat. I'm a bit hungry."

/

"You're growing a beard." Yang smirked as she and Kevin washed the dishes after dinner.

"What?" Kevin asked, unthinkingly putting a hand on his chin and as a result smearing dish soap all over his face. "Ah, darn..." He reached for a towel.

Yang giggled as she passed him a towel. "I said you were growing a beard."

Huh. Kevin felt his chin with his free hand. So he was. Maybe he'd let it grow out when he was a bit older. "You call this peach fuzz a beard?" He asked Yang looking befuddled.

"It's going to get there." Yang said smiling as she put a plate down. "Hey...I was thinking about what you said way back a few months ago."

She looked at Kevin seriously. "We've been through a lot huh?" She asked.

"Yeah." Kevin whispered softly. "We have." His gut told him where this conversation was going and he was a bit apprehensive.

"You told me that you were still trying to figure things out." Yang said. "You know, between us?"

Kevin hesitated. He nodded after a long pause. "I am trying." He told her sincerely. "I...still can't cross that bridge yet."

"Well, I can." Yang faced him fully, looking very confident. "And I want to."

Kevin looked unsure of himself. Again. Yang looked confused, and hurt that he wasn't reciprocating. "What's wrong?"

"It's not you. It's me." Kevin said quietly. "I don't know what I want from a relationship and I don't know if you'll...you will..." He hesitated. He looked away from Yang's lilac eyes. Metal fingers cupped his chin forcing him back to face her. "Yang? What are you doing...?"

Yang pulled him in closer with both hands. Her lips pressed against his own in a searing kiss that made his entire face go red. Kevin blinked as Yang held him there for quite a while before stepping back. "Do you feel better now?" Yang grinned as she wrapped both her arms around his neck.

Kevin looked at her blandly, "Why..." He started asking.

"I just want you to know that I really do like you, dunce." Yang smirked. "That was just a little taste of what's waiting. So don't lead me around okay?" She turned back to the dishes. "Come on, Kev. We've got dishes to wash."

Kevin blinked numbly before wordlessly settling back next to her. He turned the faucet on and began rinsing a plate off with his hands. His mind was a bit of a mess. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn't and the look on his face made Yang laugh as she saw it.

/

"Hey, Kevin." John waved his hand as Kevin got back to their billet. "How was dinner with the girls?"

Kevin blinked even as it started snowing again. "Excuse me?"

"Uh, hello?" John asked. "Dinner? With Yang and Ruby?"

The Stormcaller blinked at him. "Huh?" He seemed...out of it. Like some sort of shock.

John watched his younger brother as he nearly bumped into Nils without saying a word. The Titan looked at John who looked confused. The Sunsinger shrugged and both men walked into the bar/billet.

Inside Xia was busy watching a movie on Ivan's scroll, wrapped up in a blanket. Ivan was currently writing something on a notepad and handed it to Neopolitan who smirked devilishly and began writing a message. Hestia was already asleep. Kevin was...sitting at the bar staring ahead. John walked over and sat next to him.

"Kev? You okay?" John asked.

Kevin looked into his coffee cup and took a slow sip. "Yang asked to be with me." He told John. "She also...forced my teeth inwards with her tongue..." He hesitated.

John chuckled once and nodded sagely. "Okay, so why don't you go for it?" He asked his brother.

"Carla." Kevin mumbled. "And you know that."

"I didn't get to meet her Kevin." John said seriously. "And you know that. But I'm sure from what you told me, she wanted the best for you."

"And if I fail Yang in the same way?" Kevin asked. "What if..."

"You can't keep killing yourself like this, Kevin." John talked through whatever Kevin was going to say. "You can't. And you won't fail her. Not anymore." He smiled at his brother. "You're stronger than that."

John's grin grew even wider. "Besides, the way you've been looking at her..." He winked. "Just saying, bro. You're head over heels."

Kevin blinked and stared into his coffee blankly. He then smiled serenely. "I guess...I guess I should try." He muttered.

"Just try, man." John clapped Kevin on the shoulder. "Not just for Yang's sake but for yours."


	4. Chapter 4

4

The Nautilus/The Flames of War/Sword to Sword

 **Destiny=Bungie**

 **RWBY=RoosterTeeth**

 **/**

 _GRIMOIRE Unlocked: Dossier-Fireteam Jackknife: Fireteam Leader John Holden_

 _Name: Holden, John_

 _Description (As dictated by Cryptarch Mira Arroyo)_

 _"Sunsinger John Holden is a veteran Guardian with quite a few skills under his belt. An affable young man by all accounts John possesses a singular strength of will and the determination to move forward to completing his objective no matter the cost. Despite his friendly nature, Holden is a warrior to the core and has an innate talent for combat that is apparent during his time as a new Guardian._

 _There is no doubt that he will rise higher within the ranks of the Guardians."_

 _/_

 _Earth Embassy, Island of Patch_

Attacking a heavily fortified position took a particular mindset to prepare. Edgar knew he had to pick the strongest men and women for the job. The Vale Capitol was a particularly hard target to attack but considering who was currently there it also meant that it was going to be a necessary target to hit.

Edgar was currently looking at a holographic readout of the complex, which was hastily put together thanks to the Vale Council and Headmaster Ozpin himself. The command center was busy with junior officers and other technical staff on loan from the Nautilus made reports and contacted Guardian teams and Marine squads out on patrol. The Warlock exhaled as he regarded Santiago.

"The teams are going to have to move quickly." The Ghost remarked. "With all the firepower they can muster. It's not just Grimm they will have to handle, it's also the White Fang."

"A frontal assault would also be most unwise." Edgar looked to the left to see Ozpin also observing the holographic readout of the Vale Capitol Building. "We'd waste far too many men and women taking it."

"We still need a big enough distraction." Edgar rubbed his chin in thought. "Tybalt, what did you guys see when you were up there?"

Tybalt cradled his helmet as he pointed at several quadrants on the Holographic Display. "Heavy weapons platforms. I saw several of those Paladin mechs out on several checkpoints as well." The Titan was young but he was a solid warrior well on his way to reaching veteran status. "Each of which...are heavily defended right Lance?"

Lance was a Hunter and a deadly marksman in his own right. He also lead two of his colleagues on roving patrols out in the worst of what the Sol system could throw at him. The man was quiet, but his insight was not something to take lightly, he had taken Tybalt under his wing briefly during this time.

"Very heavily defended." Lance spoke, keeping his face hidden behind his helmet and hood. "I'd bet they have constant contact with each other. There are a few weak points if you want to exploit them but we need to make a lot of noise if you want an opening for raid teams to get in."

The last member of the scouting team, Qrow Branwen took a drink out of his hip flask. Ozpin and Ironwood glowered at the man, but Edgar and the other Guardians took his disrespect with nary a glance. It would have been weakness, but Edgar was done wasting time with Qrow's quirks. He had his uses. That was all that mattered.

"Why don't we use the underground railway?" Qrow grinned. "Get 'em where they least expect?"

Edgar quirked a brow. "Assuming it's still operational? And the Grimm aren't nesting in that area?" He asked.

"It's too risky." Ironwood shook his head. "So many things could go wrong."

"We still got hostages sir." Tybalt remarked. "And I'm not very keen on watching public executions. It'll make things worse if we wait, I agree with Branwen. We should hit them from where they least expect."

"What about those Paladins?" Lance asked. "Pretty sure they'll get called back if they knew something was up."

Edgar waved his hand, spinning the display of the Vale Capitol around. From above, the Capitol was shaped a rectangle with a semicircular area that denoted a large courtyard. Edgar then lifted the display lightly.

"Judging from the blueprints, the underground railroad is our best bet." Edgar said as he traced the red and blue lines representing said railroad. "I want eyes in that railroad station, I want scouts to tell me everything."

Edgar pointed at the railroad. "This will be a key entry point gentlemen, I believe it is time we started pushing for territory."

"Daring, but if we pull this off the White Fang are gonna be caught with their pants down." Qrow grinned at Edgar. "Alright, I guess you'll want me to be on the recon team then."

"You'll be leading it." Edgar told him. "Ozpin tells me you're familiar with the area."

"Seriously Oz? You put me forward for more work?" Qrow groused.

Ozpin shook his head. "You're the best field agent, Qrow, it's as simple as that. I'm already dealing with what's left of the Vale Council and you know how they are."

Qrow raised his hands and shook his head. Edgar simply looked at Santiago and shrugged his shoulders and the Ghost bobbed in the air briefly. "Our business is concluded gentlemen. We will meet at the same time tomorrow to discuss the specifics."

"Better not be morning." Qrow muttered.

/

 _Vale Capitol Building_

Blake Belladonna was exhausted but she kept worrying at her bonds even if it would get her beaten up again. She bit her lip as she stopped when the pain in her wrists was unbearable. She kept going after a few minutes. Adam had stuck her in here and for the longest time she had wondered if she was ever going to see the light again. Blake felt every bruise and cut in her body and resolved that when she got out of here, she was going to repay Adam for every bit of 'kindness' he bestowed upon her in the name of his 'revolution'.

Yang...Ruby...Weiss...Sun...Kevin. Blake closed her eyes as she pictured her friends' faces. Kevin's most of all. The strong young man who knew what she was and why she had decided to hide herself away from the world. She had seen what Adam was going to do to Yang, cutting her arm off was not enough for him. No, Adam would have made sure that Yang died slowly and he would have forced Blake to watch. He was going to kill Kevin too and his brother John and everyone she had met.

He had said so himself, Adam was going to take away everything she cherished. He kept saying it every day he walked into this room, to her cage where she couldn't stretch or lie down comfortably. Blake swallowed, feeling her dry throat. All she got was water and some stale pieces of bread. They only kept her alive because Adam said so.

Blake stopped worrying at her bonds and for the first time in a while, after becoming numb from the long imprisonment in the dark, she let herself cry for a little bit. She just felt so tired...so numb from her long imprisonment and seeing what her White Fang brothers and sisters had descended into. She had seen what had happened to the humans who were being used as slave labor by the White Fang. Or they were being forced into blood sport and Blake had seen what happened to the poor men and women who were chosen for that atrocity. Not every person was participating with this however, Blake knew a few decent men and women within the White Fang who wanted to leave before Vale launched an attack to liberate the Capitol and the refugees that were imprisoned here.

"Yang...Kevin...Are you coming for me? Are you going to help me?" Blake whispered to herself as she gathered up what strength she could muster.

Wiping her tears she focused on staying strong like Kevin and Yang. She just had to get out of here. The White Fang were planning on making a public statement soon and she dreaded just what Adam had in plan for the forty human prisoners in the Capitol.

/

 _Fireteam Jackknife/Emeici Billet, Island of Patch_

"Hello?" Ruby poked her head inside. "Are you guys awake? I made cookies!" She blinked in surprise at seeing Kevin and John sparring, unarmed. Everyone else was watching and Ivan was the only one to notice.

"Rose." He said nodding then quirked a brow at the basket she was carrying. "What's that for?"

Ruby shook her head, she had been paying attention to John throwing Kevin over his shoulder and telling his brother to get up. They talked a bit more, with John showing Kevin how to replicate the throw. Kevin then scowled and slapped his brother in the back of the head while John laughed.

Ruby smiled. "I got cookies for you all."

"Hey, that's nice!" Nils walked over, hauling a few chairs for the table as Ivan stalked towards the back to go make something for breakfast. "We were just about to get some breakfast going. Where's Yang?"

"She's doing some target practice." Ruby answered and looked over at the Holden brothers who had finished with their sparring, or whatever it was. Judging from John's grin and Kevin's annoyed scowl John had been messing with his twin brother again.

"Target practice?" Nils asked looking up from his food. "Her?"

"Just because she can throw a punch, doesn't mean she can't hit anything Nils." Xia commented, turning a page in her book.

"How long is she going to be up at the range then?" John asked.

"I dunno." Ruby said. "She was really happy when she woke up though, all giggly and stuff." Beside John, Kevin quietly turned to the side and found a spot on the wall suddenly very interesting. Ruby, thankfully, didn't notice. Xia and Nils did, only one of them was smiling.

"Huh. I wonder what that's about?" Xia asked, launching a wolfish grin at Kevin who frowned.

"Probably got some good news." Kevin's tone was annoyed.

"Heh." John smirked to himself. Kevin shot him an unhappy look. As chatter started and Ruby set the basket of cookies down, Ivan and Hestia were already helping with breakfast. It was a simple affair: bacon, eggs and some kasha porridge that Ivan had left over from a few days ago. They pulled up tables and the bar was soon ended up becoming noisy once more.

"So I hear that New Monarchy's trying to push their 'benevolent dictator' through to the Consensus again." Nils commented. John snorted derisively.

"Like that is ever going to happen. Don't they know their history?" John muttered annoyed. "I'm pretty sure they have Warlocks up there to teach them what exactly happened to the world's first encounter with the cheerful guy known as _Adolf Hitler_."

"The Consensus won't stand for any of it." Hestia passed the platter of eggs over to Ivan. "And neither will us Guardians."

"Hideo's gonna have to play smarter." Xia remarked. "Because I've been hearing crap about some manufacturers trying to muscle in on his position as the representative of New Monarchy."

"Assuming they are as savvy as Executor Hideo." Kevin pointed out, finishing his bowl of porridge.

"Um..." Ruby looked from side to side. "What-"

"Politics." Ivan answered. "It's the same everywhere, Ruby. Just go with the flow and eat your breakfast. Our home's a long way from here so any news is appreciated..." He scowled. "Even if it is political idiocy."

Ruby shrugged and happily dug into her scrambled eggs. Home...She should probably head back to check on Dad and Yang, who said she would be back home in a few hours. Ruby had wanted to go talk with John's group over breakfast just to see how they were doing. The fight to head back to the docks was intense and already there were rumors that there was something big going on.

She frowned slightly as her thoughts turned to Weiss and Blake. Weiss she knew was back in Atlas and since the CCT tower was down there was no way to contact her. As far as Ruby knew, Weiss had to go back to Atlas under her father's orders. Judging from the scowl she had before leaving that night, she wasn't happy at all.

And Blake? Again a hot feeling of anxiety wormed its way down into her gut. Blake was in trouble, that was what Sun had said. Ruby scooped up a spoonful of eggs to hid her glum look. Ivan took a sip of coffee, eyes closed. "So there's been talk that we're going to hit the Vale Capitol Building within a few days."

The table grew silent. John chuckled. "Ah, the big raid. Who else got that communiqué from the commander?"

Xia put her bowl down. "Who else? Me, you, I think Karl did too." She answered. "Looks like old man Edgar wants the heavy hitters on this one."

"Let me guess, because of Adam Taurus." Nils remarked. "Didn't John send him off with his tail between his legs?"

"I took an eye." John said quietly. "Pretty sure he's pissed about that too." He leaned back nonchalantly. His blue eyes grew colder. "Should have taken his head along with it."

Kevin grunted. "I'm pretty sure Taurus is not the dying kind." His fist clenched. "Do we have the details?"

"All I got was that there was going to be a diversionary attack from the east. The Marines are gonna handle that." John said looking at his Scroll. "Details are coming in the next session for Fireteam leaders to meet. So today guys, our goal is shopping for weapons and ammo."

"So we're heading onto the Nautilus?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah." John said. He turned to Ruby with a grin. "You want to come with us? You and Yang?"

/

The Long Night had severely crippled Earth's space travel and ruins of its once glorious exploration fleets were scattered throughout the cosmos, silent reminders of what the Darkness had cost humanity. It was only thanks to the tirelessly pragmatic engineers and shipwrights of Dead Orbit that Earth's civilization could sail through the stars at all.

The Nautilus was a frigate, hence it was the smallest vessel in the Dead Orbit fleet. Still, to Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long its hangar bay was an awe inspiring sight of composed chaos. The work gangs were busy with incoming and outgoing shuttles carrying supplies.

John stopped as a forklift passed by, carrying crates of ammo judging from the stencil on the side.

"This is so cool!" Ruby squeaked as she looked around. "I'm the first person to actually stand on a spaceship!"

Yang grinned. "This is pretty cool, yeah." She agreed. She winked at a pair of technicians who were working on a panel over on the port wall. One waved, the other was a spunky brown haired young woman who blew a kiss at Yang.

Yang blinked and looked, shocked a bit, at Kevin. He merely raised his hands. "Hey, I'm not gonna judge."

John snickered as Yang smacked his brother over the head.

/

Quartermaster Soren Fierarch blinked the sleepiness out of his eyes. "Well, well...the Ifrit decides to grace us with his presence." The old Awoken arms master spread his arms in a gesture of welcome. "See anything you like? You talk to me, and we'll settle the marks."

"Aye." John nodded, smirking.

Yang and Ruby were gawping at Soren's glowing blue skin unashamedly. The Awoken laughed. "Oy, my eyes are up here little girls."

Ruby had the decency to blush and muttered an apology. Yang scratched her head, laughing nervously. Soren just smiled again. "Hey, no worries." He said. "We Awoken get that a lot."

"Um...Awoken?" Ruby asked.

"We were born out in the stars." Soren answered. The starlight is my mother and my father is the dark."

"Ah, the usual Awoken reply then." John remarked. "It's okay Ruby, Soren's a gun runner, he knows what he's doing. Even if he likes bad poetry."

"Sorry for staring at you Mister Soren." Yang said.

"Like I said, kids. Don't worry about it." Soren chuckled. "You guys browsing?"

"Um...yeah, we decided to tag along and check out the ship." Ruby answered cheerfully. "It's really cool by the way."

Soren laughed. "Yeah, she's an old hand but Earth gets by with ships like her."

They continued chatting as Yang ambled over to Kevin who was testing the weight of a Shadow Price rifle. Nodding in satisfaction, he shouldered the weapon with a practiced ease. Yang stared briefly at him and shivered slightly. While she was glad that he was on their side, Yang still was quite uncomfortable at how used to combat Kevin was.

His eyes were cold as he lowered the rifle, seemingly staring at some distant point through the wall. He blinked as he noticed Yang staring. He quirked a brow and Yang smiled gently at him. "You guys done shopping?" She asked.

Kevin shrugged. "I already got what I need." He cradled the rifle in his arms. "Stable, hits like a truck."

"You know your guns huh?" Yang asked.

"You have to trust your gun." Kevin said sagely. "Otherwise, where would we be?"

/

"It only took a damn eternity but I finally fixed the bloody thing." Hestia groused as she looked at her newly repaired chest piece. "Damn thing was poking into my side, and here I thought I was being stupid."

John shrugged. "Things happen, but hey I got my Sunbreakers so I am happy." His gauntlets burst into flame briefly, freaking Ruby out and causing everyone to laugh as Hestia calmed the girl down.

Yang rolled her shoulder and glanced at her prosthetic arm. Soren and Kevin had managed to fit her for some combat armor that was used regularly by Dead Orbit Marines. While she was sure she could take hits with her Aura, she wasn't going to decline a gift.

Then again it was solid but also very light.

Ruby was sporting armor as well, light gauntlets and greaves. She was concerned about being light on her feet so it took a lot more time but she was cool with that. Her newly sown cape was what she was gushing about. Made from the same material as a Hunter's cloak, her emblem showed proudly on a black background. She had hugged John around the neck, nearly choking the Guardian but the Sunsinger just laughed and told her it was an early Christmas present.

"Hey." Kevin said as he pointed out of the viewport. Yang leaned over and gaped. She was seeing Remnant from space. It was an amazing view, so much so that she didn't have anything to say.

"This is your home Yang." Kevin told her softly. "If you feel yourself sinking into despair, remember what you see here and what you're fighting to protect."

Yang kept looking at Remnant, right through that viewport until the transport shuttle hit atmosphere.

/

 _Xiao-Long Residence..._

"Hey girls!" Taiyang waved his daughters inside the house as they returned. "How was your shopping trip?"

"It was AMAZING!" Ruby gushed loudly. "Dad, we went to outer space! We were in a _Space Ship!_ And then there was this guy, Mister Soren. He had blue glowing skin and he called himself an Awoken or something like that..."

Taiyang chuckled as he listened to Ruby, her speech beginning to go into mach speed. Yang just sat down on the couch and sighed. "I wonder what's on the news." As the TV flashed to life, Yang frowned as the anchorwoman spoke gravely onscreen.

"We now return to our live coverage of the meeting inside the Earth Assembly. Commander Edgar Gein is making a statement regarding the White Fang's announcement last night."

The view switched to the embassy chamber where Yang saw the Guardian Commander walk up to the podium in full, intimidating regalia. His grey eyes swept the crowd and he ignored the clamoring of a dozen news reporters. Beside him was Headmaster Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood on one side and Edgar's compatriots were on the other. Yang noticed the grim expression on Ozpin's face and the quiet anger on General Ironwood's. She knew this was bad.

When the crowd silenced after a few minutes Edgar leaned forward towards the microphone. "The White Fang has announced that they will begin executing hostages every four hours live if the Vale council does not step down and surrender the city to their rule." He spoke seriously. "As such the council has asked for the Guardians of Task Force Endeavor to step in."

The reporters began to start asking questions in an unorganized mess. Edgar raised his hands for silence. Yang felt someone grip her hand and saw it was Ruby who looked scared. "Blake..." She murmured. Yang squeezed her sister's hand as she felt her Dad stand behind them and put his hands on their shoulders. Yang looked up to see him worried. That scared her.

"I will make this clear: There will be no negotiations." Edgar spoke on screen again. "There will be no formal declaration of intent and there will be _no quarter_. The only thing I will give the White Fang will be the steel of my blade and the roar of my guns."

A reporter stood up. "Lisa Lavender of the VNN. Does this mean you are declaring war on the White Fang?"

The room was silent as cameras zoomed in on Edgar's face. The Warlock's visage was glacial, with a terrifying resolve.

"Yes." He said calmly. "This is a declaration of war."

/

 _Fireteam Jackknife/Emeici billet, later that night..._

John snapped his Scroll closed. "Listen up!"

The bar quieted, everyone on Emeici and Jackknife were listening. The Ghosts fluttered over back to their owners. Jingles hovered by John's shoulder. "Fireteams Bloodhound and Wallachia are already heading towards the Vale Transit Hub with Grendel and JNPR. Dead Orbit is putting a full company on standby in Vale with Fireteam Furor."

John exhaled. "You all saw the briefing. The diversionary attack's going to happen soon." He told everyone. "Ready up, this is going to be a bit tougher than Beacon."

"Finally some action." Xia snarled as she pulled her helmet on.

John scooped up his own helm. "Fireteam Furor and Dead Orbit's Fourth Company's gonna hit the complex as a diversionary attack so the Guardians can get in. Grendel is hitting them from the Transit Hub with Bloodhound and Wallachia. We're rendezvousing with Knight at the military checkpoint and we'll take Sparrows to the rear of the building where we will hit the enemy as a rearguard."

That sparked quite a reaction. Kevin set his mug down calmly. The Commander was headed into the fight, just like at Beacon. "That's quite a show of force." He said.

"Or maybe he's pissed at Taurus going after civvies." Nils commented. When the White Fang announced that they were going to publicly execute civilians, nobody in the Task Force was very happy with the White Fang. The outrage had spread even to the citizenry of Vale and Patch, with people clamoring for the Council to do something.

Well they were...technically. They had sanctioned the attack and the Guardians were going to carry it out. Scuttlebutt said that Edgar was not going to allow any interference from the Vale Council, which was rankling some higher ups in the government. Edgar didn't care about any fat cat in a three piece suit. Money didn't matter to the man.

Besides what could they do anyway? Send a nasty text message?

"Either way, we're stepping it up." Ivan said, face hidden beneath his helmet. The Warlock chambered a round into his rifle. "Let's go."

The Fireteams exited their billet, armed and armored to the best of their ability. John was the last to leave and closed the door. He found Kevin waiting for him.

"John." He said calmly.

"Yeah, I know. We'll find Blake when we get there." John spoke smiling. "We'll find her man, we will."

Kevin exhaled. "Yeah, yeah we will."

John shook his head. "When have I ever let you down, little brother?" He asked Kevin. His twin shook his head and snorted.

"How about that time we lost the bet with Hestia over that game of football?"

John visibly shuddered as Hestia's helmet turned in their direction. The Holdens could feel the Titan giving them a smug look underneath the Helm of Saint 14.

"Okay, you know what..." John started. "That was only one time." He spoke deflating under Kevin's stare.

John scratched the back of his head. He then looked over Kevin's shoulder, looking surprised at someone.

Kevin turned around, unsurprised at who he was going to see there. Yang and Ruby were standing there in full gear. Yang carried her rifle and Ruby had Crescent Rose in hand. Before Kevin could even speak Ruby stepped up.

"We're going with you."

John and Kevin looked at each other. John just shrugged. There was never going to be any question about that.

/

 _A few kilometers away from the Vale Capitol building..._

Edgar Gein was fairly unsurprised that Jackknife and Emeici had two uninvited guests. Still, it was no trouble. That and they might know one of the hostages. The Voidwalker regarded Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long with a critical eye, his face impassive underneath the Blind Jackal mask he wore.

"I should bar you from participating." He told them both frankly.

Ruby tensed up as Yang scowled. "So why don't you?"

Edgar nodded to his subordinates. Keina smiled graciously and gave Ruby and Yang a wink as Loki merely nodded his head, the EXO Titan hefting his heavy machine gun. The pair headed out to look for any enemies.

"Simple. You both have a part to play in this venture." Edgar looked at them both seriously. "I can see that even now. My question is, are you prepared?"

Ruby tilted her head curiously even as Yang clenched her fist. "Prepared for what?"

"This operation is just the first step to a longer campaign." Edgar crossed his arms. "Even now, another full company of Guardians is headed to Remnant with enough materiel to sustain a lengthy operation and to establish a permanent footing here. We are escalating our strength which will mean our enemy will do so as well."

The face of Edgar's Blind Jackal Mask faced Yang and Ruby. "I have read the reports on your team, and I must say that there are some who have high hopes for you amongst the ranks of my Guardians. Don't disappoint us."

Yang and Ruby watched him depart. Ruby sighed. "Well at least he's not a jerk like Ivan." She mumbled.

Despite herself, Yang snickered. Ivan glowered at them both while Xia hid her smile behind her hand.

John rubbed his temple. "I was expecting a lot worse from the commander but he seems..."

"Expectant?" Kevin supplied.

"Yeah, that was the word I was looking for right? "

Yang looked over, brow raised. "Expectant about what?" She asked.

"Just hearing things, but Edgar's been scouting for new Guardian material on behalf of the Vanguard back home." John told her. "With the talk he just gave you guys, you're on the list."

"He wants us to be like you guys!?" Ruby gasped in surprise, her eyes all lit up like stars. She could imagine herself in the same armor as Hestia, battling weird aliens and seeing other planets.

"Yeah, pretty much." John said. "Why do you think we've also been having you two tag along? Or why Jaune's team is with a Guardian Fireteam right now?"

"You guys were scouting us?" Ruby looked ready to fall over, she was so excited.

"For a while." Kevin answered shrugging.

"Guardian huh?" Yang scratched her nose sounding intrigued. "So what's it going to take to be one?"

"You don't join." Kevin said cryptically. "You are chosen."

"By who?" Yang asked him, "And don't troll me this time Kev."

"Your Ghost." Kevin said as Sparky popped into view. The Stormcaller gave his Ghost a mischievous grin and that was all the Ghost and the Guardian would tell the blonde, who was now seething.

They got settled into the RV point as they waited for Edgar to coordinate with the Marines and Fireteam Furor.

The morale was good, as Emeici and Jackknife joked with each other. This was a big fight, they needed all the good morale they could get.

/

 _Vale Capitol Underground Railway_

Jaune exhaled and kept his balaclava up as they arrived at their destination. He tried not to look scared. As though sensing his troubled state, Pyrrha bumped her shoulder into his. "Come on Jaune, it's okay. We've got this."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah...it's just..." He hesitated to say anything. Karl stopped at the entrance to the railway.

"Speak up kid, we're all ears." Lance told the young man. His Fireteam was spread out, rifles covering any angle of the attack. Tybalt was the same, his Eyasluna in hand as his head swiveled left to right.

"I don't know I just got a funny feeling." Jaune said hesitantly. "And I definitely don't want to go down there." He gestured at the railway.

Karl was about to say something when he heard a loud roar from the railway.

"Grimm..." The Titan snarled underneath his helmet as he chambered a round into his rifle.

"I'll take point on this one, Karl." Tybalt spoke up. "Grant, with me."

"Rog." Grant, a young Warlock, hefted his rifle as he headed up with his Fireteam leader.

"JNPR, stay with my Fireteam. Lance, you've got the rear." Karl said.

"I got you, Karl." Lance nodded, switching for his Hand Cannon.

The three teams moved into the darkness, the only source of light being the Ghosts' photoreceptors.

/

"We're on the right track Tybalt." Tybalt's Ghost, Caspian, spoke up. "We just follow the tracks and deal with the Grimm who are multiplying under here and probably want to eat our corpses."

"Traveler's sake, Caspian." Grant murmured. "I'd like to get out of here in one piece yeah?"

"Shut up." Ike, the Hunter on Tybalt's Fireteam, snapped. "Sound carries down here."

"Ike's right guys. Stay focused." Lance spoke over the COMs.

Karl remained silent as he and Jaune moved towards the front. The Raid team kept moving, weapons up. They had dealt with a pack of Grimm a few minutes before and dispatched them easily with fist and blade. Jaune and Karl were the ones who took them down and nobody had to fire a shot.

The darkness was stifling and Jaune was having a hard time trying not to imagine the countless dead here with them. He kept his Hand Cannon up checking each angle as he saw the others do. Karl was next to him and then Pyrrha, Nora and Ren. Levi and Kelly were near the rear with Bloodhound staying back.

"Jesus, this is worse than Old Glasgow." Lance muttered over the COMs. "Remember Karl?"

"Don't remind me." Karl said. "I've never seen so much Hive packed into a nest before. I bet the Ifrit never had to deal with that kind of shit."

"Contact." Kelly muttered and the first raid team stopped. "I just heard something a few meters right of my position."

"Yeah, I saw it too." Levi spoke. Jaune loosened his sword from its sheath as Pyrrha readied her shield and spear.

"CQC guys, blades if you got them." Karl cracked his neck, mag locking his rifle to his back as he readied his fists which sparked dangerously with Arc energy.

There was a howl, a Beowolf lunged suddenly from the side. Lance whipped out a throwing knife, the blade punching into its chest as Kelly tackled the damn thing in a daring opening gambit and stabbed it to death.

Tybalt staggered under the weight of another, reaching up and grabbing its jaw before throwing it over his shoulder, smashing its head open on the concrete. He then lashed out with a brutal backhand that snapped the neck of the Beowolf coming at him from the side.

Pyrrha stepped back from the Alpha's long swipe, keeping the larger beast at bay with her shield and stabbing it in the chest. Frowning as the point cracked against the bone armor she shoved it backwards with her shield. The Alpha went at her again. Pyrrha switched to her sword form and charged, bashing it in the face with her shield and knocking it down. Reversing the grip on Milo she stabbed it straight down into the Alpha's face.

Levi was doing his own thing, his Void powered palm strikes devastating a younger Grimm. He turned and drew his sword, an Arc Edge. He brandished the blade and cut the head off the last Grimm.

"Clear!" He called out.

"All clear here!" Lance returned. "Horace, Enkidu you guys doing alright?"

"We're good." Horace, a Titan spoke huffing. "Just a scratch on my plate though. Damn."

"Affirmative. I am intact." Enkidu-9 was an Exo-Warlock who specialized as a Stormcaller much like Kevin. When Enkidu revealed that he was an Exo Nora had been particularly excited about talking to the sentient war machine that could shoot lightning from his fingers. Enkidu had been most amused and had bonded somewhat with Ren and Nora when they were assigned this job.

"Jaune? You guys okay?" Kelly asked wiping black ichor off of her knife. The Grimm she killed was already disintegrating.

"We're fine." Jaune said. "Ren? You took a hit there."

The quiet boy was being checked on by Nora and Enkidu. When he nodded that he was fine, he picked up his weapons and shook his head. Nora readjusted his helmet, the look of worry on her face was uncharacteristic of her but seeing that Ren was fine her cheerful personality came back.

"I hate that smell..." Tybalt commented shaking his head at the disintegrating corpses of the Grimm. "We should keep going. Caspian, I need a NAV marker."

"Let's see...Ah, here we are!" Caspian cheerfully put up a marker on Tybalt's HUD. "I'm also getting some faint radio signals from behind that wall..."

Karl and Lance looked at each other.

"Meteor, get me the Commander. We might have stumbled onto something big here." Karl said quietly.

"Lance, set the explosives. The Commander will probably appreciate more fireworks."

"Solid Copy, Grendel One."

/

The assault on the White Fang occupied Vale Capitol Building, christened Operation Unceasing Agony by Task Force Endeavor, began when 4th Company under the command of Captain Cyril Sideman opened fire on a White Fang Patrol in the eastern section of the Vale Capitol Building, alerting the enemy force to the company sized threat that had moved towards them. Supported by Fireteam Furor, led by Rainelle Kurova, the attack was focused, intense and had drawn away much of the White Fang patrols.

Street by street, building by building the Guardians and the Marines hit the White Fang with a medley of heavy weapons and snipers, weathering the counterassaults made by infantry, controlled Grimm and heavy Paladin support. The battle ground to a stalemate with neither side giving ground.

As if the confusion was not enough, the main communications hub held by the White Fang underground was attacked by Fireteams Grendel, Bloodhound, Wallachia and Team JNPR under the command of Karl Whittaker.

Hitting the White Fang at the same time from the rear of the building, Commander Edgar Gein of Fireteam Knight led Emeici, Jackknife and RWBY into the fight. There was no mercy and no quarter given. The White Fang were fighting for their lives against a determined foe. They hold the Capitol, they won and Vale would despair.

Their defeat meant a total shift in power and the possibility of retaking Vale in the name of the Light.

/

Kevin dove for cover as the huge brute with the machine gun opened fire the moment he spotted the Guardians.

"That's heavy." He heard John comment beside him. "Commander, we're pinned by a heavy weapon!"

 _"Emeici, I want that machine gunner dead."_ Edgar's voice was calm, like he was taking a stroll in the park not putting bullets into insurgents. _"Loki, advance and put those rifles down. Keina with me. Watch for flankers."_

Kevin blind fired his Shadow Price at the machine gun. "We should press them as soon as Xia takes out that machine gunner." He told John.

"I could put a rocket in his face." Hestia deadpanned.

"Too risky in these close quarters." John said. He opened fire on another insurgent, sending him screaming into the ground. "Bastard tried to flank us."

Something exploded. _"Machine gunner down."_ Xia spoke calmly over the COMs. _"You are clear to move, Jackknife. Ivan, Nils. Put those bastards down."_

"Solid copy, thanks for the assist!" John said. "Yang! Take point!"

Yang nodded with a smirk as her Aura flared into being. Eyes crimson, she gave a battle cry as she charged the now hesitating White Fang troopers who were pulling back into the corridors. Ruby followed her elder sister.

"Move in and prepare for close quarters!" John said, unlimbering his Invective shotgun.

Kevin switched out his weapons, settling for the Monte Carlo and his Conspiracy Theory shotgun. Hestia moved quickly, her Suros Regime already shouldered. Knight and Emeici were moving on different sectors towards the center of the building. Once the rear section was cleared out, they'd move in deeper towards the central quarters.

The White Fang's command center would be there, if they took that they'd win the battle. If they were lucky, Adam Taurus would be there. Edgar wanted him dead, simple as that. He didn't care who did it but by nightfall the Bloody Beast of the White Fang should be no more.

Kevin didn't think it'd be so simple.

/

Blake heard the gunfire, wincing as she heard the White Fang rallying for a counterattack. She had managed to get out of her bonds, wincing as she felt the rawness of her wrists. As she exhaled and looked at the lock to her cage she didn't realize someone standing in front of her.

"Blake?"

She looked up to find a familiar face. "Leone." Blake spoke coolly. Leone had been a rising star in the White Fang before Blake had defected. She was one of the agents who worked closely with Adam. That made her untrustworthy. And an enemy. "So is that it? Adam sent you to kill me?"

Leone put the keys to her cage down on the ground alongside a handgun with two magazines of ammunition. "No. I'm getting out of here before I get killed. A lot of my friends are too." She said smiling grimly. "Maybe I'll get lucky and face off against the Grimm instead of the Guardians."

Blake looked at the keys dubiously.

"It's not a trick Belladonna. I'm done. I know what kind of a lost cause the White Fang are with Taurus in the lead. Especially with what he did to my little brother." Leone sighed. "Look, you don't like me. I get that. I'm just trying to make up for all the dumb shit I did to you and anyone else as a Fang."

She took off her mask. "Fuck this thing. I never asked to be a monster. At least you had the courage to run when you could." She said softly. "So...yeah, see you around I guess."

Blake watched her go. She grabbed the keys and unlocked her cell, quietly taking up the handgun. It wasn't Gambol Shroud but it would do. She slipped the magazine home and chambered a round. Now was the time to get out and hopefully establish contact with Kevin and Yang.

"I can do this." She told herself and exhaled as she left her prison behind. She'd try to find Leone in the fighting but she wasn't going to prioritize that. First thing was to find Kevin, Yang...Ruby. She needed her weapon back. And a Scroll. After that she'd worry.

/

Grimm. They were flooding the corridor with Grimm, not caring about friendly fire anymore. Kevin's magazine ran dry just as the Beowolf reached him. The Stormcaller met the beast's advance with a bayonet to the throat and a Thunderstrike. Enough Arc energy went through the beast that its head simply exploded as Kevin directed untold voltages into its brain. Shrugging the headless corpse aside, Kevin loaded a new mag into his weapon and continued on, following Yang and Ruby.

With the main communication hub in Karl's hands they had a tactical advantage. Which didn't matter if they were bogged down by Grimm, Grimm and even more Grimm. Kevin hated the fuckers more than anything right now.

The Stormcaller caught up to Ruby who was loading a new cylinder of ammo into her hand cannon as Yang fired back at the White Fang with her Zarinaea.

"Oh my gosh it never ends." Ruby groaned as she pushed the cylinder back into the Lord High Fixer.

"You're telling me." Kevin muttered. "How are we doing on ammo?"

Yang shrugged. "Pretty good." She shook her hair.

"I'm doing good as well." Ruby said.

Kevin nodded. "Let's keep going then." He said. "Sparks, how are we doing on Ammo Synths?"

"I'm counting. We might run out if we keep getting bogged down like this, Kevin. We need to hurry." Sparky reminded him.

"Oh we will." Yang cracked her knuckles. "I like doing it the old fashioned way if I have to."

"Ugh..." Ruby leaned against her scythe tiredly. "I hope we find Blake."

"I'm sure she's okay." Kevin said.

/

She was totally not okay. Blake winced as she narrowly avoided being shredded by rifle fire as she kept her head down, ears ringing as the White Fang traded fire with their assailants. Judging from the way one of the White Fang simply vaporized into thin air, they were up against someone new. Blake peeked over her cover, an overturned cabinet.

An armored figure stepped into view, hefting a heavy weapon. His skull-like helmet looked around briefly. "Commander, targets have fallen back." He spoke monotonously.

"Understood Loki...Although I sense that something is amiss."

Another man stepped into view, the tails of his long coat billowing ominously. His helmet was shaped like a Jackal's head. He held a massive revolver with a jagged frame. Blake hid quickly.

"I know where you are." The man's voice was calm, apathetic but there was a tension there like a steel cable.

Blake steeled herself and stood up, pistol raised. She shouldn't have bothered. The armored figure and his companion both had their weapons raised, taking in her malnourished frame and her tired expression.

She exhaled. "If you're gonna kill me...You're going to have to work for it." She told them both, already flaring her Aura.

The man in the Jackal Mask lowered his weapon first. "You're a prisoner. Or were, considering the circumstances of our meeting. I know who you are, Miss Belladonna."

Blake stepped back cautiously. "What? Who are you?"

"An understandable question, again considering your circumstances." The man returned. "We are Guardians as I'm sure you've heard about. My name is Edgar Gein. This is my compatriot Loki."

Blake gulped. She'd heard the term. The people from outer space. She had left before the major announcement but during her time as a prisoner, she'd heard the word being bandied around with fear from some of the White Fang.

Adam, seeing as he had recently lost an eye to one of them, was in a foul mood and had taken it out on Blake.

"You know Kevin and John?" Blake asked.

Jackal Mask tilted his head. "They are under my command, yes." He answered. "I assume you are acquainted with the Holdens?"

Blake hesitated but she nodded in reply.

/

Edgar was most intrigued. Here was another candidate for his list of potential Guardians. While he was more than willing to have Keina escort Miss Belladonna off the frontlines so they could finish this farce, they had no idea where Adam Taurus was.

Their first objective, securing the capitol, was already almost finished. Their second objective, relieve Adam Taurus of control of the White Fang and the removal of his head, was still in the works. The Voidwalker shrugged his shoulders.

"Very well, Miss Belladonna. If you could be so kind as to stay with us for the time being. We are currently busy securing this building. Our next objective is to find Adam Taurus who was reported to be here." Edgar said. "Do you happen to know where he is? I need to have a chat with him."

Blake glanced at the massive revolver in his hand and knew that 'chat' was going to be painful.

"Commander." There was a flash of light and a small polyhedral object floated beside Edgar's head. "Keina is attempting to call you."

"Patch her through."

 _"Hey Ed!"_ The cheery tone was laced with static and Edgar, with a small smile, knew that Keina was the only Guardian allowed to call him that. Loki did as well but the EXO was still mastering his social skills, something he did not fault the Titan for. There was a sound of screaming, a burst of gunfire and then silence. _"Were you in trouble? Why weren't you answering?"_

"Negative. Just give me a sit-rep." Edgar spoke casually.

 _"Well, I suppose my hunt wasn't very successful. But I did hear something interesting, Adam Taurus is regrouping. Seems like he's going for a big counterattack."_

"That's Adam." Blake spoke up. "He gets angry when he gets blindsided. That's when he gets dangerous."

"I see. Edgar replied. "Keina, what's your current position."

 _"Blue is sending you the coordinates!"_ Keina replied over the link. There was a crack of gunfire. _"How rude!"_

Something exploded.

Edgar sighed.

/

They faced each other again.

John Holden kept his blade in hand, the Raze Lighter burning brightly in the hall as he and Adam Taurus faced off. Behind Taurus were White Fang troopers, these men were the hard core zealots. Hefting blades and guns they had them at the ready. On the other side were the Guardians, weapons raised. Yang and Ruby were with them barely keeping their horror in check as they took in the execution grounds.

"You again." Adam growled.

"Yeah, it's me." John said looking around the place coldly. "You've done some very bad things, Taurus."

"Justice for the oppressed."

John wanted to laugh. He really did, but judging from the condition of several corpses, some of which who were part of Vale's Ruling Council...He shook that train of thought out of his head. He could feel Hestia at his side, rifle up. Kevin, Yang and Ruby were on call as well. Their weapons were up. Yang and Ruby were horrified. Kevin was ready to kill.

"Justice..." John remarked, hearing Kevin step forward sword in hand. "That's cute. I don't think I'm going to bother with a response."

"Orders?" Hestia asked.

"Shoot his friends." John gave his order. "I'll deal with Taurus."

Hestia obliged, her heavy machine gun putting holes in several insurgents that fired back. John moved in, sword raised as Taurus did the same. His blade glowed a malevolent crimson that John knew wasn't natural. Something changed.

It wouldn't matter. Raze Lighter burst into flames as John and Adam clashed for the second time.

Kevin, Hestia, Yang and Ruby were engaging. They already had alerted Edgar and his team that they found Taurus. There were five Fireteams heading to their location. Blood was going to spill.

/

 _We have to hurry!_

That was all on Blake's mind as she followed Edgar and Loki deep into the compound, rescuing whatever prisoners they found and dispatching any enemy that stood in their way. Having reacquired Gambol Shroud she shifted impatiently as Edgar's Ghost, Santiago, hacked his way through a computer terminal after the Warlock had shoved aside the dead insurgent on top of it.

"We don't have time for this." Blake said.

"We know." Edgar replied smoothly. "But rushing in to get killed will serve no one."

"You don't understand how dangerous Adam is." Blake argued. "That...That woman we faced at Beacon...she gave him something."

Edgar and Loki stopped. Yes, there were reports of the flame wreathed woman spotted at Beacon. He had personally interviewed Ruby Rose and Kevin Holden about her. Headmaster Ozpin was currently the only one who dueled the one code named as "False Maiden".

"And that is...?" Edgar asked.

"She did something to him." Blake said. "He's..." She shivered. What Adam was now terrified her utterly.

Edgar exhaled. "Santiago, send out orders. Have Fireteam Emeici rescue the rest of the prisoners." He said coldly. "Fireteams Grendel, Bloodhound and Wallachia are to rendezvous with us immediately in support of Fireteam Jackknife."

The Voidwalker reloaded his Thorn and flashed Keina on the COMs. "We have a situation, move to support Jackknife."

/

John parried the vertical strike from Adam's sword. The blade burst into green flames, signifying the ancient, malevolent force it had been imbued with. The Sunsinger sneered underneath his helmet.

"Nice." John pushed Adam back and kept his blade aloft. "Let me guess, your friends gave you that?"

"Power was all that I needed." Adam brandished Wilt with a cruel smile. Kevin's eyes narrowed. The man wasn't himself. "With this, I'll crush the life out of anyone that stands in the way of my revolution. I will deliver justice to mankind, for every sin they've done to my kind I will pay back a thousand fold."

"The power you wield will kill you, I hope you do realize that." John told him quietly.

"Then maybe I'll kill you first!" Adam snarled rushing forward. He stopped as bullets impacted his Aura, which was now blackened, diseased green flame appearing around him.

Kevin and Hestia kept up the fire, even as Adam turned his murderous blade on them. As Adam struck, the pair split and Wilt cut into the concrete floor. Yang charged him in turn. Adam took aim with Blush and fired off several shots, fending Yang off.

"You owe me an arm, asshole!" Yang roared.

Adam only laughed maniacally as John lunged at him. Kevin and Hestia opened fire, chipping away at Adam's aura. It was maddening, Kevin thought. They should have been able to kill Adam several times over and yet he still wasn't going down. Something was up.

John rolled out of the way of a blast of buckshot from Adam's Blush and Yang pushed forward taking another wild swing at the White Fang leader. Gauntlet met blade in a flash of sparks. Yang reared back her fist and struck again and again, her Aura flaring. Adam blocked each strike, his grin feral.

John got back to his feet, sword in hand as flames sprang to life behind him. Adam let out a savage howl as he threw Yang aside to get into grips with the Sunsinger.

Battle joined once more. As John was about to charge something blew up the wall to the side and a veritable horde of Grimm surged into the room, as though called by Adam Taurus.

"Fuck!" Kevin kicked a Grimm off of him. It looked...diseased if that was even a word. There were growths all over its black fur, a malevolent green colored blister. And he knew what kind of power it was. "These bastards are infected with Darkness! Push them back!"

Hestia fired her weapon even as she and Ruby stood back to back. Beowolves, Ursa and even a Boarbatusk. All of them were covered in growths and were far more malicious than ever before, the creatures didn't register pain, Kevin found that out the hard way as one of them knocked his helmet off with a savage blow.

Yang had noticed. "Kevin!" She turned and blocked a wild strike from Adam who was smiling.

 **"I'll start with you."** His voice turned two toned.

"Adam!"

/

Blake was horrified at what she was seeing. Kevin, Yang and the others were embattled with Adam Taurus and a horde of Grimm. Having Gambol Shroud in hand she didn't have time to even think about what was going on.

Edgar raised his Hand Cannon and opened fire upon Adam Taurus who raised his hand, black flames creating a shield. Loki stepped forward with his machine gun as he went to assist Fireteam Jackknife.

 **"Blake!"** Adam's dual tone voice echoed over the din, causing Blake to step back as Adam turned his eyes on her. **"So you got out of your cage!"** He approached, tossing aside a Grimm with inhuman strength.

"What happened to you Adam?" Blake muttered under her breath.

 **"Several things...My benefactor gave me strength."** Adam smiled. **"I know we-"**

Blake lashed out with her blade, knocking Adam's mask off. She looked into his eyes that were a claret red. **"That wasn't very nice."**

Blake grimaced as she readied her blade. "No. Whatever you are, you're not Adam anymore." She spoke resolutely.

Adam smiled. **"Please Blake. You were much better at running than fighting."**

"That's true." Blake agreed. "But who says I'm alone."

Something flew through the air and landed on Adam's arm. The tiny explosive whined and exploded, sending Adam flying into the wall on the left. John lowered his arm, sword in hand as he moved towards her. The Grimm were being pushed back by Hestia and Loki with Ruby's help. Yang was helping Kevin who looked battered. Yang gave Blake a beatific smile as Kevin kept his gaze low as though in shame.

"Holden." Edgar said. "Nice throw."

"Thank you sir, but this place looks like hell in a hand basket." John spoke.

"Agreed. We've already got Grimm inbound." Edgar said. "It is safe to say that someone has been giving our mutual friend Taurus some goodies." His tone of voice was rather sardonic. "I hope you killed him."

"Not for long." Loki commented as rubble exploded outward.

 **"Blake..."** the two toned voice returned.

Edgar raised his weapon as Adam emerged from the pile of rubble. His left arm had been blow off but something else was growing out of the stump. Black Ichor dripped down, forming a new arm.

"Emeici, Bloodhound, Wallachia. We are pulling back." Edgar spoke over the COMs. "Furor, you and Keina had better get the civilians out of here." He loaded a new cylinder of ammo into his Thorn.

/

It was a fighting retreat but the Guardians had managed it, meeting up with the elements of Dead Orbit's Fourth Company Marines which had secured a fall back point according to Rainelle's orders.

The Capitol was in shambles and with the Grimm taking it, there was no other way to keep the site or retake it without massive casualties. It was a victory but with so many civilians discovered dead...the results were harrowing. The trip back was a solemn one for some. Edgar was already thinking about what he was going to say, briefing the Vale Council on the threat of the Darkness was going to be hard enough.

He was also going to have to speak to the Vanguard back on Earth.

Edgar lowered his helmet as he looked into its Jackal shaped visage. Adam Taurus had been enhanced with the Darkness, the malignant force that had taken everything from humanity. His "Benefactor" was the "False Maiden." Something told him it was going to get a lot, lot worse. He sighed.

/

 _A few hours later..._

"So you lied to all of us."

Kevin winced but he nodded. He looked into Blake's amber eyes, filled with guilt.

"I did." He whispered.

"Listen, Blake-" Kevin started.

"Don't." Blake said quietly eyes closed. "I'm not upset with you." She sighed. They were outside of the abandoned bar the Guardians were using as their billet. It was starting to snow and the sky was already darkening. "I was just...I don't know what to think. You and your brother are not from Remnant, and Adam tuned into some kind of monster because of his Darkness."

She sat on a crate. "I'm just tired." She looked at Kevin. "I didn't think I'd see either of you again."

Kevin looked down. "I was just trying to protect all of you." He told her. "And I failed at that. Yang lost her arm, you got stabbed by that monster. And now your world is threatened by the greatest enemy my people have ever faced."

He clenched his fist. "I should have killed him." Kevin growled. "Right then and there but the Grimm were all over us."

Kevin blinked in surprise as Blake wrapped his hand with both of her own. "You and Yang saved me." She whispered. "That's more than enough." She kissed his cheek. Kevin blinked as Blake walked back inside.

Kevin sat down on the crate eyes blank. It was time. It was time he told the truth about why he was so hesitant around Yang and Blake.

He had to tell them before things escalated.

He had to tell them about Carla.


	5. Chapter 5

5

The Aftermath/Festival of the Lost/Moving on

 **RWBY= Rooster Teeth**

 **Destiny= Bungie**

 **Let's do this.**

 **/**

 _Grimoire Unlocked_

 _The Iron Lord_

 _Cayde-6: So...Remnant huh? Man, why can't we go to such nice places..._

 _Ikora Rey: A new planet with humans. An intriguing destination but with how busy we are I'm afraid there isn't much we can do to actually head out there._

 _Zavala: With SIVA still a threat we are still needed here. Cayde, have you been in touch with Shiro?_

 _Cayde-6: Yep, he's up at the peak right now with Saladin...and one of my top guys. What was his name? Marc? Er...Mason?_

 _Ikora Rey: I believe his name is Marcus, Cayde._

 _Cayde-6: Right, right...Yeah, he's solid. Almost as much as Holden so I've been told._

 _Ikora Rey: Indeed..._

 _Zavala: So why exactly did you put him up on the list as part of the reinforcements we're sending to Remnant?_

 _Cayde-6: Hey, I figured if he could beat the hell out Aksis he'd do more good with the Ifrit against whatever's out there on Remnant._

 _Zavala: He was just inaugurated as the first Iron Lord in centuries, Cayde. His presence is needed here._

 _Cayde-6: Look, as much as I would say no I can't really say no...He actually demanded the assignment. So, yeah. He's headed up there whether we want him to or not._

 _Zavala (sighs in disgust): Fine. But you better fill in the paperwork this time._

 **/**

 _European Dead Zone, Earth, Several Years ago..._

He knew the wound was devastating. "I can fix this..." Kevin repeated, stammering. "Carla, it's going to be okay."

The Warlock held his lover close even as he did his best to keep her warm. Why was she so cold? He laid her down and started bandaging Carla's wounds, ignoring the voice that told him that it was too late, that there was nothing else he could do to save her.

"Carla...I can fix this..." Kevin repeated. "Just hang on."

She smiled at him gently. "Kevin..." She said quietly cupping his cheek. "Kevin...It's all going to be okay..."

"No...No, no, no." Kevin stammered, as he held her hand. "No. No. No. I can still fix this... I can still..."

She wasn't talking anymore. Everything was still. Everything turned silent. Kevin Holden dropped the bandages and looked down at Carla. "Carla..." He shook her, as though it would bring her back. "Carla...I can fix this. Just wake up. Please."

But she wasn't waking up. Her eyes looked up at the grey skies forever. The Guardian that loved her stammered a denial. He stayed there for hours until nightfall. The Guardian stood up, carrying his woman after closing her eyes for the last time.

/

 _Fireteam Jackknife/Emeici Billet, Island of Patch_

"Five!"

Jaune blocked Kevin's sword stroke.

"Move your feet Jaune." Kevin said as they stepped back from each other. Jaune exhaled, his breath misting in the cold.

"You can do it Jaune!" Ruby cheered. Pyrrha smiled as she sipped her cup of hot cocoa. Kevin raised Bolt Caster as Jaune did the same thing for Crocea Mors.

"I'm ready." Jaune said again. Kevin nodded.

"Good. Then let's get started." Kevin rolled his shoulders then adjusted his grip on his sword, the point directed at Jaune's throat. He was alone right now. John and Hestia were out on a scouting run near Beacon Academy. That would be the next objective and this time the Huntsmen and Huntresses of Vale were leading that operation. They claimed that any Guardian support "would be most appreciated."

Ozpin's words.

Patrol was boring but necessary work, especially with what most Cryptarchs were paying out right now for information on Remnant and the city of Vale. There were still Grimm to kill, technology to analyze and most of all rebuilding efforts had to start sometime soon.

As for the others, Xia was back inside watching a movie. God knows what Ivan was doing although scuttlebutt said that he was seen around with a certain ice cream themed girl...for some odd reason. That was funny, she had tried to kill him a few weeks ago didn't she? Whatever. Kevin was not one to judge. Ivan could take care of himself, even if he was a bit young.

Yang was with Blake who was currently being debriefed by the Commander. "For emotional support" Yang had told him when he asked why she was going with Blake. Kevin shrugged. If anything at least it was Edgar doing the debrief. Miss Keina was the nicest sort but some things were best left to people who still had a semblance of normalcy.

As Kevin sidestepped one of Jaune's strikes, he just realized that he had made a pun.

Damnit Yang.

/

 _Earth Embassy_

"Would you like a cup of tea Miss Belladonna? Miss Xiao Long?" Edgar asked Blake who was staring with a mortified expression at the ghastly tea pot that Edgar was using to pour out said tea. Beside her Yang was having an extreme amount of difficulty stifling her laughter. It was an eye sore, a bright baby blue with eye searing pink smiling elephants dotting its surface. Blake forced her eyes away from the garish teapot and looked Edgar right in the eye. It took a sheer amount of will to do so.

"Um...Sure..." Blake said hesitantly keeping the teapot at the corner of her eye. Edgar set a cup, thankfully a white one, down in front of her and poured out a generous portion.

"Sugar?"

"Um...No thank you."

Blake waited for the tea to cool down a bit before trying it. She was surprised. It was rather refreshing, the bitter aftertaste didn't bother her at all. This was some pretty darned good tea.

Edgar smiled, making Blake realize that she had spoken out loud. "My thanks, my wife does a better job of brewing but I managed to ask her for a few pointers."

Yang blinked. "You're married!?" She asked.

"Why, yes." Edgar answered. "My wife made the teapot."

Blake suddenly felt a little ill and strove to avoid looking at the damn thing before it blinded her.

"So she did." Santiago remarked by Edgar's head. The Ghost floated over the teapot. "Now can we actually take it off the desk before it causes my photoreceptor to implode? We're supposed to be helping Miss Belladonna, not subjecting her to eye strain."

Yang giggled as the pair glared at each other.

Edgar leaned his head back, looking very dignified. Santiago made an annoyed sound before settling back behind Yang and Blake, hovering in place.

"Well, now that you have managed to get some rest Miss Belladonna I believe it is time we got to business." Edgar said.

"Wait...You guys said something bad happened to-to Adam. What was it?" Blake asked.

"He has been granted a very terrible power." Edgar spoke. "Once someone has been taken by the Darkness there is no coming back, our enemies have the backing of someone very dangerous." His tone was grave.

"So what do we do now?" Yang asked worriedly. "We just sit here and wait?"

"Our first objective is to re-establish communications to the other kingdoms." Edgar explained calmly. "With your Cross Continental Transmit Tower down, we've been relying on our own communications grid. Which sucks mind you." Edgar took a sip of tea. "We get that set up we can share more information with the world. The Nautilus is currently scanning for any unknown signatures headed here."

That was sobering. The thought of an alien invasion was something Yang and Blake weren't ready for. Yang thought it was dumb. There were video games out there talking about green space aliens wanting to experiment on Remnant's people. But now she knew better.

John, Kevin and Hestia had told her enough horror stories about the insidious Vex, the cruel Fallen and the monstrous Hive. She didn't know how bad it could be, out there in the universe. The fact that the Guardians were the ones who faced off against them constantly made her encounters with the Grimm and the White Fang seem...paltry.

Blake's thoughts were as equally depressing. She was already in enough trouble seeing as she was a former member of the White Fang. Someone in the Council had wanted her head but the good thing was that Edgar had personally vouched for her and her fate would be decided today. She wasn't expecting to walk away free.

With all of what was happening in Vale, she was ready for the worst.

Edgar noted how dour they were and gave a smile. "Regardless of our current situation we still managed to push the White Fang back and rescued some very influential people from further harm. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless." He told them. "What we can do now is hope for the best...and prepare for the worst."

The Commander now leaned forward, putting his hands in a steeple. "Which is why I will be permanently assigning Ruby's team to Fireteam Jackknife and Mister Arc's to Emeici. I've been hearing that all of you have been working together throughout the beginning of this...crisis."

Yang nodded. "Yeah...We have." She said and then scowled. "What about Blake?"

Edgar frowned. "Of course, as Miss Belladonna's status as a former White Fang member has come to light amongst the leadership there are some calling for her immediate arrest." He spoke seriously. "There are some who were more vocal and less wise that have called for me to hang you for what has happened to Vale. I'll be quite frank, they want someone to pin this disaster on. Meaning you."

Blake looked pale as she looked down at her hands. Yang's fists clenched as her lilac eyes burned red slightly.

"Rest assured however that Headmaster Ozpin has vouched for you." Edgar said to them both blithely. "And I would be most irritated if someone were to try something right under my nose." Blake looked up at him.

"Why?"

Edgar blinked. "Why what?"

"Why...Why did you help me?" Blake asked.

"Blake..." Yang started saying before keeping quiet.

"I...I did some bad things. I thought I was helping the Faunus have a voice. And then-And then Adam..." Blake trailed off.

"Miss Belladonna, there is no reason for me to imprison you. Not when you are trying to atone." Edgar said standing up and looking outside. "And that will be all I will say about this subject." He looked back at the two girls. "Our business is concluded, ladies. You may go."

Yang and Blake stood up.

"Thank you, commander." Blake said softly bowing her head. "For the tea and...listening to me."

Edgar gave a smile. "It was no trouble at all." He said to them both. "Have a good day."

/

That was that.

She was cleared of all charges. Blake Belladonna was relieved. She didn't have to hide who she was anymore. She was free.

"Well, that was...something." Yang said as she scratched her hair before pulling her beanie on. Blake just closed her long white coat, a gift from Yang. "Blake, you okay?"

Blake nodded. She had been resting for all these weeks. Yang and Ruby's father had let her stay with them since it was going to take a while to get a tent for her in the refugee camp. Ruby and Yang had filled her in on the truth about Kevin, John and the Guardians. They told her what they knew.

She had talked to Kevin privately after her rescue and knew she still had questions, questions that needed answering. Yang stopped and there was a loud buzzing noise as a Guardian Fireteam passed by on their hover bikes. Sparrows, they were called.

Yang whistled. "I'd like to get me one of those." She commented and smiled at Blake. "Come on, let's head back and see what Kevin's doing."

"Sure." Blake said still feeling tired. While she had recovered from her imprisonment, she was having trouble sleeping.

Yang grinned. "You still tired Blake?" She asked.

"Not really but...I just want to get back to reading for a little while." Blake answered softly.

They eventually made it back to the billet where they watched Kevin and Jaune finish their spar. Jaune was leaning on his sword as Kevin told him something. The blonde smiled and shook hands with Kevin who returned the handshake. But not the smile, much to Blake's amusement.

His eyes landed on Blake's and he nodded to them both.

"Yang! Blake! You're back!" Ruby cried out and ran to give them both hugs.

"Yeah we figured you guys were running around in the cold and doing dumb things so we made sure to tell the Commander we had a schedule." Yang joked. "But seriously though, Blake's a free girl now. Her 'charges' were dropped."

"That's wonderful!" Nora cheered. "Oh, would you like pancakes? Ren says he'd cook us a lot of pancakes for breakfast today!"

"Nora...It's almost noon." Ren reminded her.

"What exactly did he say, Blake?" Pyrrha asked sighing as Nora began babbling to Ren again.

Blake answered. "I was on trial when I wasn't there. But the commander and Headmaster Ozpin spoke up for me to the Council." She shook her head. "I wasn't expecting to get off scot free."

"But you did, so that's good." Kevin said calmly. "Come on, let's go inside. I hate the cold."

/

"Hey Xia." Kevin said as he held the door open for Ruby and the others to head inside.

Xia waved her hand as she opened up another movie on her Scroll. Kevin turned to the side to see Ivan and Neopolitan already at the bar. Ivan scowled as he moved a chess piece on the board. Neopolitan smirked as she took the pawn with her queen.

There was a rustling sound as Blake reached for the hilt of Gambol Shroud. She glared at Neopolitan who looked surprised to see her there.

"Oy, cat girl." Xia spoke up before Blake could draw her weapon. "Don't draw that here please. Some of us are trying to relax eh?"

Kevin put a hand on Blake's shoulder. "Yeah, I figured Yang forgot to tell you that Roman and his partner are working with us for the time being."

Yang scowled. "Sorry Blake." She said throwing a nasty look that Neopolitan returned.

Blake narrowed her eyes. "So why is she here?"

"Because she's irritating." Ivan answered for Neo. "But useful." Neopolitan winked at him as she moved her Knight into position. "And a surprisingly good chess player."

She mouthed the words 'checkmate' to Ivan who exhaled through his nose in irritation as he looked at the chessboard to think about his remaining options. Then he sighed and gave up which caused Neopolitan to hide her smirk behind a gloved hand as Ivan began setting up the game pieces once more.

"Right, I haven't introduced you yet." Kevin sighed. "Blake, the woman wrapped up in the blanket is Xia Zhang. Leader of Fireteam Emeici and my former tutor. The one with Neopolitan is Ivan Searle, my replacement on her team."

"Aye." Xia waved a hand again, further wrapping herself up in her blanket. "If you got any questions girl I'll be happy to answer them after this movie."

Blake started saying "nice to meet you." but stopped because she was a bit shocked that Xia was Kevin's former teacher and was not seeing it.

"Don't look so shocked yeah?" Xia turned and stared at Blake at the corner of her eye. "I don't like getting my feelings hurt."

Blake felt that she was dangerous and decided to drop the subject. "It's nice to meet you Xia." She finally spoke, lamely. To her surprise Xia turned to Kevin and looked back at Blake again.

"She'll do." Xia told Kevin who shrugged. "Won't be surprised if Cayde-6 picks her up to join the Hunters."

"Yeah, figured as much. Blake's not a slouch either." Kevin agreed. "A few patrols and she'll be good to go."

Blake looked to Yang and Ruby. "What was that?" She whispered to the both of them.

Ruby and Yang looked at each other. "Well, um...They're scouting us." Ruby told her.

"For what?" Blake asked again.

"They think we're Guardian material." Yang said smiling. "So they want to see how awesome we are."

"Oh..." Blake looked to Kevin who was still discussing things with his old teacher. She didn't realize that. There was still a lot of things Kevin hasn't told her but she knew he would. If there was one thing Kevin wasn't, he wasn't a liar. He was honest with them, except for why he was at Beacon.

She knew Kevin hated lying to people he trusted.

/

 _Emerald Forest, Beacon Grounds, Vale Dead Zone_

The Boarbatusk only managed to squeal once before John ended its life with a controlled burst from his rifle. The Sunsinger exhaled as he hit the magazine release and replaced the empty mag with a fresh one.

"John, a message." Jingles reminded him. "I've been trying to ping you for the last thirty minutes."

"Shucks, sorry." John chuckled as he fished out his Scroll. His brow raised in surprise. "Wow. It's that time already?"

"Yes, the Festival of the Lost is coming up." Jingles said. "Are you going to attend? The Embassy is asking for volunteers to help out." The Ghost stared at him. "And I'm pretty sure they will ask you to speak for the opening ceremony."

"Aww...But I wanted to go around scaring people with masks." John complained.

"I am sure the Commander will allow you to do that after the formal ceremony." Jingles admonished him. "And the wait is worth it right? Loki volunteered to make the masks again."

John had to admit that was true. The Festival of the Lost wasn't just about mourning for the Guardians. Sure it was a time for reflection for those they had lost, but it was also a time of celebration of being reborn again in the Traveler's Light, to laugh and smile and eat a huge amount of candy.

Or raisins. If you were a party pooper like Eris Morn. Or a health nut like Kevin Holden.

The Sunsinger sighed at the thought of making a speech. It was always him, a tiring affair. He was always John the Ifrit to many, and John Holden to his teammates. He smiled, banishing such thoughts.

He was strong. He had to be, otherwise he would never make it out of this alive. Or sane. And neither would any of his brothers and sisters in arms.

"Speech huh? " John said as he shouldered his weapon and hunted for targets. "I wonder..."

/

 _Armory, the Nautilus_

Blake had never seen such a huge amount of guns in one place. She had agreed to accompany Kevin up to the frigate, not knowing what to expect but she had to admit that she was in awe most of the time. She was in space, in orbit around Remnant and there were view ports where she could see her home planet below her.

Kevin had also told her about other planets he had been on. Mars, with its red deserts. The mysterious Venus, with its jungles and thick vegetation. Earth, with its glorious cities shattered and the place the Guardians called home. There was even Europa, a frozen moon that Kevin had only visited once. She stopped looking through the view port as she heard Kevin's footsteps.

He dropped a case of armor and weaponry down for her approval. Blake blinked. It was apparently the same as Yang's but was much lighter. There was also a rifle and a semiautomatic pistol as well in the case.

"Try these out." Kevin said. "I'm sure you're getting bored so we're going on patrol in the Vale Dead Zone today." The Warlock seemed at ease. "What?"

Blake simply smiled. "A bit too early for presents isn't it?"

Kevin shrugged. "It was John's idea, not mine." He told her. His face was impassive. Blake chuckled.

"Okay. Thank you though."

Kevin shrugged his shoulders again. "Call me when you're ready."

/

Blake tugged at her gauntlets as she looked herself in the mirror. The armor was light, it wouldn't reduce her natural speed or dexterity by much. According to Kevin, this armor was the same used by Dead Orbit's marines in combat. The one piece suit underneath the plating was also designed to stop small caliber rounds and most attacks. It, theoretically, shouldn't interfere with her Aura or her use of Semblance. It was a new design from the Cryptarchs, researchers who were aboard the Nautilus.

The rifle was a bit different. She preferred handguns and her own Gambol Shroud of course but the weaponry in a Guardian's arsenal weren't made for using Dust based powders. They were killing tools, not for tourney use. She shuddered at the thought that Kevin and the others had used, and probably mastered, several of the armaments at their disposal.

Blake picked up the weapon, the white and red casing indicated it was called a Suros PDX-45.

The sidearm was one of Kevin's old pistols, named the JabberHakke. Blake slung her rifle over her shoulder and tried the pistol. She liked it, it reminded her of Gambol Shroud's pistol form. Her signature weapon was strapped to her back, unused for now but the weight wasn't bothering her at all.

Blake exhaled. "Alright, I'm ready."

/

Patrol duty wasn't exactly exciting work, but Blake managed.

She and Kevin were moving through the urban devastation known as the Vale Dead Zone, looking for a nest of Grimm to wipe out. Blake would have balked at doing something so brash but she felt a lot more confident with Kevin around.

The Stormcaller moved, his Lyudmila-D in his grip as he swung his legs over the railing. His helmet swiveled left to right, looking for any sign of Grimm in the area. Blake did the same, rifle shouldered before she ducked behind an abandoned car. She waved Kevin over.

"So...how are you holding up?" Kevin asked quietly as they continued down the street, Kevin leading the way. "Is your stomach okay?"

Blake knew what he was talking about. The food she received during her stint as a prisoner wasn't always fresh. She had a bad bout of indigestion but the doctors were able to help with that. Kevin did as well, suggesting what kind of foods to avoid while having said indigestion. It amused her to think that Kevin was such a big health nut but it was useful in a sense. He always watched what he ate to an obsessed degree.

"Yes." Blake said. Both took a count of three before they kept moving forward into cover again. "Are we almost there yet?"

Kevin checked his HUD and realized they were already near the ruined store they were supposed to clear out. "Yep." He switched to his Conspiracy Theory shotgun, pumping the slide. He noted Blake staring. "What? It's close quarters work."

She just shrugged and Kevin led the way, shotgun raised.

/

The store was rather large but there was enough crap in here to make it difficult to see. Sparky's light gave them some visibility. Kevin whistled. "Man, it's dark in here."

Blake stepped lightly over the rubble. "You know, I would have thought twice about taking out an Ursa nest like this." She said.

"It's just Ursae." Kevin remarked. "I think every Guardian I know who has been on patrol hates Deathstalkers more. Seriously, even the little ones take a lot of ordnance."

"Little ones?" Blake asked eyebrow raised.

Kevin waved a hand. "The ones not the size of a bus. Yeah I was speaking relatively." He heard a growl. The Stormcaller smirked underneath his helmet as two large Ursa approached, disturbed from their sleep.

"Well, looks like we came at a bad time." Kevin said coldly. "Blake, you get the one on the left."

Blake chambered a round into her rifle and took aim.

Kevin faced the other Ursa calmly as he raised his shotgun, waiting for it to charge. And charge it did, with a roar the Ursa went for the Stormcaller with a mighty swipe of its paw. Kevin sidestepped, moving swiftly he put a blast of shells into its head cracking the skull mask. The sound of Pulse Rifle fire alerted Kevin that Blake had already started on her own target.

Pumping the slide Kevin shot the Ursa again and again, the Void infused shells knocking the big burly bastard down on its side. Kevin didn't hesitate and put the last shell in its face, bone fragments scattering in the air alongside brains. He turned to see that Blake had already cut down her own target, using Gambol Shroud's sword and sheath to cut its head off with a flourish.

She looked a bit sheepish as she picked up her discarded rifle. "Sorry."

Kevin shrugged. "It's fine. That's why you have secondary weapons." He told her. "Let's clear the rest of this place and move on."

Once that was done, Kevin and Blake headed out into the cold air once more.

"Oops. Almost forgot." Kevin said. "Sparky, get me that patrol beacon."

As the beacon materialized into Kevin's hand Blake couldn't help but watch. "That's pretty convenient." She told Kevin.

The Stormcaller shrugged. "Yeah, I could never figure out how people live without transmat." He said as he pushed a button for a spike to appear on the bottom. He then looked around for a suitable area and just shoved it into the exposed dirt on the concrete. "And there...We're done. The engineering crews can check this place out to see if it's viable and the scavengers know it's clear for them to do their own magic."

"That's our third beacon, right?" Blake asked. The last two were easier, since they were just small stores.

"Yes." Kevin said. "And I for one am in the mood to eat something." The Stormcaller said. "Come on, we're gonna head out again at night anyway. Might as well head back to Patch for the time being."

"At night!?" Blake looked surprised. "But that's a lot more dangerous!"

Kevin agreed. "True. But John wants to see how you're doing, and we _are_ the ones scouting the four of you. Hestia already took Yang and Ruby out here a few nights ago. They did well, as far as I'm concerned." He looked at her a bit sternly now. "Are you saying you can't handle it?"

"Well...No, that's not what I'm saying at all." Blake said. "I can handle it."

Kevin bobbed his head. "Good. I'm more than confident that you can do this." He told her. "Let's move on now."

/

They made it back to the docks in an hour's time.

Kevin and Blake were seated at a noodle stand. Blake, as usual, was staring at the large amount of fish in her ramen. Kevin's bowl of soba noodles looked a bit small but he also had a cup of fried rice.

Both were drinking tea since it was a bit cold. Kevin ate quietly, letting Blake ask questions about actually being a Guardian.

"It's one part waiting for deployment, another part going on patrols and the biggest part is defending the City." Kevin told her when she asked what he did. "Some of us work in the City when needed. Sure, it's pretty intimidating to the normal folk when we're around since...you know." Arc energy sparked as Kevin raised his hands. "We're superhuman."

Kevin looked into his bowl before finishing his food. "Other than that, there really isn't a command structure. But there is an important lesson to know." He looked at Blake. "There are those who are far stronger and far more wiser than you."

"You mean like Commander Gein?" Blake asked.

"Yep. And even he has to answer to the Vanguard." Kevin answered. "They're the ones who organize missions, give out bounties. All sorts of things."

"But...what about the Traveler? The big object in the sky on Earth that you told me about?" Blake looked at Kevin curiously.

"It...Well, some call the Traveler _she,_ is the source of our strength." Kevin said. "No one knows why but it _sacrificed itself_ for us to live on. I believe that is a debt we should all strive to repay." He sighed. "One day, that debt will be paid...heck, maybe I might consider retiring when that happens."

He smiled at Blake serenely. "Maybe might go around collecting movies you know?"

Blake laughed. "What?"

"Hey, we're all not just some trigger happy nut jobs!" Kevin told her. "Hmm, let's see...He may not look like it but Commander Edgar is good at dancing. Guy teaches ballroom in his spare time."

Blake looked like did not want to believe him. Kevin shrugged. "Ask when you get the chance, trust me. It'll surprise you."

"This is so weird...What else are you going to tell me?"

Kevin rubbed his chin. "Loki-99 likes to fix clocks and watches in his spare time." He said, describing the EXO Titan on Fireteam Knight. "Keina brews tea, does cross stitching, and she even does pottery. John likes going for a swim. Xia lounges around like a housecat, Nils can _sing_ if you can believe that. Ivan likes board games, strange I know but I don't bother trying to beat him in chess. Unless you're Neopolitan of course."

Blake gaped at him. She didn't think that the Guardians did such mundane things outside of combat. It honestly surprised her.

"I think it's a good thing." She told him after a pause. "It proves that you guys are...well, normal human beings. Most of you, no offense."

Kevin smirked. "Yeah, none taken."

"Huh? Blake?"

Kevin and Blake turned around to see Sun Wukong and his friend Neptune walking around. How Sun managed with keeping his shirt open in cold like this was beyond him.

"Hey Sun." Blake smiled warmly at her fellow Faunus. "How are both of you doing?"

"We got back from Beacon actually." Neptune grinned. "We've cleared out most of the Academy, so I guess we might be getting communications back soon."

"Awesome." Kevin nodded, he sounded relieved. "I guess that means we can contact the other Kingdoms now."

"Anyway." Sun said looking at Blake. "I heard from Ruby that you're cleared of charges Blake?"

Blake answered. "Yeah. I'm free now, I don't have to hide who I am anymore."

Sun's grin was infectious. "That's-That's awesome Blake!" He said enthusiastically.

Kevin watched them chat animatedly then finished his tea and joined in the conversation. Today was a good day.

He decided to keep it that way by not worrying.

/

 _Xiao Long Residence, a few days later..._

Yang's Scroll went off as soon as she stepped out of the shower drying her hair with a towel. "Huh?" She picked it up with one hand and flipped to a new message screen.

It was from John.

 **FESTIVAL OF THE LOST**

 **Hey Yang, it's John. Hope you guys have been good so far.**

 **Anyway, I'm inviting you, your Dad and Ruby to the Festival of the Lost tomorrow night. Don't worry it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a little tradition back at the Tower to celebrate us being awesome and laughing in the face of death.**

 **PS. There's a lot of candy involved. And cookies. And really goofy masks if you're interested.**

 **PSS. There's no dress code. Just be sure to have a shirt on. And pants. Yeah.**

 **Cheers!**

There was an attached flier that explained a little bit more. It was a celebration and a time for mourning those who had been lost. Yang smiled and answered John that she'd be there with Ruby and Dad.

"Yang? You in here?" She heard Ruby calling.

"Yeah, just finishing up." Yang said as she pulled a shirt on. "Did you get a message too?"

"From John?" Ruby smiled. "Yeah! This Festival of the Lost thing sounds really cool! We should ask Dad to go!"

"Sure thing, Rubes." Yang said looking at the message again. "Sure thing."

/

The Festival began at nightfall. Yang and Ruby walked into the compound where the Earth Embassy was and all of them were surprised to find that the lighting was dim, candles were everywhere.

Guardians were in full armor save for their helmets. Many were bareheaded, catching up with friends and acquaintances. Ruby saw Jaune and his team there was well, chatting with a tall Guardian in heavy armor. She even saw CFVY, Coco laughing at a joke Nils made. He noticed Ruby and Yang and waved them over.

"Glad to see you guys made it too." Coco commented. "We just came to check things out and decided to stay."

"How are you doing?" Velvet asked Yang, knowing full well she had lost an arm but got a replacement.

"I've been doing good." Yang said. "You guys?"

Behind Coco and Velvet Yatsuhashi just gave a serene smile while Fox shrugged. "Don't know what we're expecting." Fox commented. "Or why we were invited to something so...formal."

"Trust me it's not." Nils told them both. "We just got to get the more important stuff out of the way. I hear the Ifrit is making a speech so we don't wanna miss that."

Right on cue there was a bell. Guardians began to file into the Embassy to listen to the Ifrit make a speech. Yang didn't know John was known by so many people, then again from what she had heard from Kevin and Hestia, John was a war hero. He was also one of the best Guardians on Earth.

She wondered what he was going to say.

/

"Miss Goodwitch, Headmaster." Edgar spoke bowing formally as the pair finally arrived. "Good to see you both during this solemn celebration."

"Indeed." Ozpin looked around at the dim lighting and the candles. "It seems surprising for a warrior such as yourself to be so involved in this."

Edgar shrugged, knowing full well that Glynda was staring at the pointed wizard hat perched on top of his head. "Would you like one, Professor Goodwitch?" He asked. "Loki is quite good at making masks as well if you wish to partake."

"Pardon but what does a wizard hat have to do with this festival?" Glynda asked.

"It's also a celebration, my dear." Edgar said smiling in pride at the large hat on his head. "And one we are all excited to partake in. There's sweets involved if you are inclined for such things."

Ozpin smirked. "How intriguing." He said. "Where can I get a hat?"

Glynda stared at him as though he were joking. Edgar laughed at her expression.

"Ah? Is General Ironwood not attending?" Edgar asked.

"Unfortunately not." Ozpin answered as he finally managed to get his hands on a pointy hat that highly resembled Edgar's. "He's much too serious."

"Pity." Edgar said. "I had hoped he would have some fun before we start fixing the Cross Continental Transit Tower at Beacon."

"He's not very fond of parties." Ozpin said. "I'm afraid James is missing a lot, considering that Glynda had decided to attend."

"Do not even start." Glynda snarled.

Both men chuckled, much to her chagrin.

/

"Well, it's good to see everyone's still intact." John Holden was a very informal speaker. That much was true, Blake mused as she stood with Kevin and Hestia in the crowd. "We've been through a lot of stuff since coming here after all. What with the Grimm, the White Fang and this whole mess in the Vale Dead Zone."

The crowd chuckled in unison.

"Right, so I'm sure you guys are all happy and all but..." His tone turned somber and he regarded the crowd with a serene look. "We should remember that it ain't just our butts on the line. We're not doing this for ourselves, the City's counting on us to do good here too. Remnant may not be the City, or Earth. But I sure as hell am not going to let the Darkness take it. No way, no how. We are stronger together, that's what we were taught. We shouldn't forget that. No one stands alone. No Guardian fights on his own."

John chuckled. "Though some of us often do."

"Like the Ifrit!" Someone yelled as the crowd burst into laughter.

"Alright, alright. Fine." John said. "I'll give you guys that. Bah, enough with the formal stuff let's get it out of the way."

He cleared his throat. "The Festival of the Lost begins now!" He spoke louder. "May the Traveler's Light guide you all in the upcoming endeavors!"

The Festival began in earnest, there was food, sweets, drinks passed all around and a generally happy atmosphere amongst the Guardians and those native to Remnant who were invited to participate.

Kevin in particular was nowhere to be found.

/

Yang walked around looking for Kevin. Honestly, it was really difficult to find Kevin if he did not want you to find him. The blonde brawler closed up her leather coat feeling a little chilly. She managed to find herself in a secluded section of the embassy. She walked up to the sign and read it. Things made sense now as she grimly stared at the words.

 _"For the Fallen."_

Yang walked in silently, respectfully. There were a lot of candles here, the light was dim. She moved, making sure not to disturb any of the Guardians who were paying their respects to dead teammates and loved ones. Even Guardians had lost people.

John was worried about Kevin so she asked her to check on him. She thought he was joking but the solemn look on his face made the occasion a lot less funny. Yang found him eventually, stooping down to place a picture in front of a row of candles. The young woman in the picture had red hair and was smiling. She also had a young boy nestled in her arms, giving a toothy grin. Behind them was Kevin. That shocked her to the core, because the gap between the serene smiling Kevin in the picture and the haunted, lifeless Kevin today was immense.

Yang covered her mouth as Kevin stood up and turned around. She had never seen so much pain in his eyes.

"Hey, Yang." His tone was low and sad.

"Was she..." Yang swallowed the lump in her throat. "Was she your wife?"

Kevin nodded. "Hans isn't mine though. Carla's husband died a long time ago. I guess...we just bonded when I helped her caravan out."

Yang was almost afraid to ask but she had to. She just had to. "What happened?"

"She died." Kevin answered. "Hans died with her. I failed them both, because I wasn't fast enough."

"Kevin, I'm sorry." Yang whispered. "I shouldn't have asked about this."

"You should have. You were going to find out anyway." Kevin said quietly. "It's fine."

Yang bit her lip. Kevin nudged his head. "Come on, let's go somewhere else." He said softly. "I need a damn drink."

/

Kevin looked into his glass. Yang sat there and watched him as though he was a bomb waiting to explode. The bar was loud but enough Guardians were here to dissuade any public intoxication. Guardians didn't get drunk too easily, unless they were John. Or Nils.

"Sorry, I'm here shitting up your day when it's a festival." Kevin said finally after a long pause. He turned in his seat to face her.

"Don't apologize." Yang answered. "I shouldn't have pried into it. John just wanted me to check on you."

Kevin smiled. "Hah, he worries all the time." He said. "I should message him and tell him I'm okay."

"Is this why you're...hesitant? You know? About...us?" Yang asked.

Kevin gave a grunt. "Yeah." He said. "Yang, you're a good person. I..." He looked down in shame. "I don't know if I am worthy of your love. I just hope that I can still try."

"You don't have to." Yang held his hand. "And if you need someone tonight. It's okay."

Kevin squeezed her hand "I still regret you losing an arm."

"Pshaw!" Yang waved her prosthetic. "I got a new one!"

Kevin chuckled. Yang smiled even wider. "Come on, I'm sure the others are going to worry."

"Back to our billet then." Kevin agreed.

/

The bar was festive. But the center of attention was Ivan and Neopolitan who were playing chess. Yang watched on in confusion but stopped when she smelled something real good and headed to the kitchen. Hestia and John were cooking in the back. Nils was out buying some drinks with Xia. Blake was watching over the chess match and was keeping score, while explaining to Ruby just what exactly was going on as she had no how to play chess, let alone understand the many complex strategies in the game.

It wasn't just them though. JNPR and Fireteam Grendel were there. Jaune and Pyrrha were listening attentively to Karl as he told them about several combat operations he had participated in.

"Welcome back." Martellus told Kevin and Yang. "Just get settled in, we're having some food."

"Again?" Kevin raised a brow. "And why didn't John tell me he was cooking?"

"Well, technically John isn't really helping." Jingles popped up as she floated over. The Ghost rolled her photoreceptor. "It's mostly Hestia doing the cooking and John handing her the utensils and ingredients."

Kevin shuddered. John meant well but the man was not to be left in the kitchen without supervision, actually Kevin thought he should stay the hell away from a kitchen at all times. The memory of John putting the entire mess hall out of commission back at the Tower still gave him a headache.

"That is so bull!" Kelly dropped her controller as Ren won for the umpteenth time.

"I'm not very good." Ren said shrugging. "I just know how the character's moves need to be set up and work from there."

Levi laughed. "Ren's gonna give you a run for your money, Kelly. Now it's my turn."

"Ugh!" Kelly made a disgusted sound as she gave the controller to Levi. Nora leaned her head against Ren's shoulder grinning.

"Your streak ends today Lie Ren." The Warlock said.

"That depends entirely on you." Ren spoke calmly.

"What are you guys playing?" Yang asked.

"Street Fighter II." Levi answered. "It's a classic...Jesus, Ren's kicking my ass."

Yang sat down to watch with Kevin. The Stormcaller didn't react merely watching attentively as Ryu threw Guile around on the stage. "Wow. He really is kicking your ass."

"Says the guy who couldn't get through the first boss in Dungeon Crawler." Yang muttered. Kelly snorted at that.

Kevin shot her a glare as Yang laughed. Levi shook his head as his character was knocked out. "Damn. He just blitzed you at the end."

"Yeah, figured as much." Levi said. "We still got one more round until the fight's over."

"Food's ready!" John called from the kitchen. "We're bringing it out now!"

"Sweet." Levi said. "Might as well not embarrass myself any further."

"Finish the fight, Lev." Kelly muttered. "Stop being such a pussy." She took a swig of her drink. "Beat his ass."

"It doesn't really matter-" Ren started but Nora overruled that by slamming her hand into his mouth.

"No way, Rennie won't lose!"

/

The little party lasted well into the night. Kevin escorted Yang and Ruby home. Yang was hauling her sister on her back. Ruby was already asleep. Kevin kept an eye out. Sure, the festivities were probably still going but that would end soon enough. There was a lot of work to be done in the coming days.

"Thanks for walking us back, Kev." Yang said. She grinned. "It was fun."

Kevin shrugged, it was no trouble. That, and he did draw the lucky straw as to be the one who avoided cleaning up the mess. It was a clear night, still cold and snowy. The warlock scratched his nose.

"Say, Yang..." He said. "Wha do you say to having some coffee tomorrow?"

Yang looked over. "Huh?"

"Would you like to get some coffee tomorrow?" Kevin asked. "I managed to score a day pass."

Yang smiled. "Sure." She said, realizing that Kevin just asked her out on a date. She was so not going to let him live this down. He looked so shy and embarrassed. Good old, stubborn Kev looking as bashful as they come.

She was going to enjoy this. And she hoped he would too.


End file.
